Steal Your Heart
by foreverXabby
Summary: "Just the thought of being in love with you terrifies me." Kassandra was a 1000 year old vampire and an ex-witch who knew the originals when they were still human and who was always alone. She meets Elijah again after he leaves Mystic Falls, and they start to have a sexual friendship. But what happens when love threatens to ruin their seemingly uncomplicated relationship? Elijah/OC
1. prologue

_Prologue_

_The 11th __century_

Kassandra hadn't always been the paranoid crazy she had become in five short years after her life went to hell. She had been normal once, as normal as a witch could be. She had even been happy once or twice. But that was before her life went to hell, before a selfish witch cast a spell to save her children, throwing nature off balance, ruining Kassandra's life and making her into the paranoid crazy she would have made fun of, five years earlier.

Kassandra had been content with her old life. She had been all right with living it the rest of her natural life. Her father had died when she had been four, leaving her mother to raise five children on her own. Her mother eventually married her husband's brother, Kassandra's uncle. Kassandra didn't mind her uncle/step-father. He did what he was supposed to do as the head of the household, nothing more and nothing less. Kassandra could respect him.

Kassandra had an older brother and sister, and a little brother and sister. She had gotten along with her siblings all right, but wasn't very close to them. Her eldest siblings had already married and moved away by the time Kassandra had turn fifteen. Her little sister died of illness before she turned one, leaving just Kassandra and her youngest brother, Peter. Kassandra loved her little brother, doted on him. He was the only human being who completely accepted Kassandra for who she was, who put up with her.

Kassandra had been on fairly good terms with her mother as well, though she exasperated her often. They were both witches and practiced together. Kassandra's mother, Gabriella, loved her children more than anything, and she was a good mother. Kassandra was okay with her family, she loved them the way she should.

Kassandra even had a friend, a best friend. It was a little surprising, because Kassandra had the tendency to be surly and socially awkward and blunt. She spoke her mind, had no filter, and didn't think before she acted. Kassandra said the wrong things and often offended people. She wasn't one to care what people thought, though.

Tatia Petrova had been Kassandra's best friend, mostly because she was her only one. Tatia put up with Kassandra most of the time, getting exasperated with her friend's lack of filter like most people. Still, Tatia was a good friend, selfish at times and even manipulative when it suited her, but still a good friend. Kassandra was also Tatia's only friend because she was the only girl who put up with Tatia's beauty, beauty that stole the attention of every eligible man in the village. The two girls bonded over the fact that every other girl in the village was sick of them.

For the most part, Kassandra had been content with her life. And then it all went to hell.

Esther Mikealson- another witch in town- cast a spell to turn her children and husband into vampires after her youngest son, Henrik, died of a werewolf attack. Not only were vampires an abomination of nature- something Kassandra couldn't condone, being a witch- they were blood thirsty. And they killed. They made more of their kind and then slaughtered half the village.

Kassandra lost so many people, when Esther cast the spell that created vampires. She lost Tatia- whose blood Esther had used in the ritual and who had died because of it. Kassandra knew that it was because two of Esther's sons had been fighting over her, Niklaus and Elijah. She lost her uncle and her mother, who had been among the people the vampires, had fed on and killed.

And, worst of all, Kassandra lost Peter. She never knew what became of her baby brother. He wandered off from home one night and never returned. She never found his body. She never knew what happened to him.

It was nothing short of a miracle that Kassandra was still alive when the vampires left her village. Half the village was dead- Esther included- and the survivors tried their best to repair their lives. They leaned on their remaining loved ones and moved on. But Kassandra's problem was that she didn't have anybody left. Her family, her only friend, they were all dead. Kassandra had no one. And the loneliness was what had created the paranoid crazy who lived in the woods, lived off of plants and berries, didn't interact with anyone else, and turned her back on her magic.

Kassandra's life went to hell, but she did little to stop it.

Years had passed since then, and vampires hadn't passed through the village since. Still, Kassandra was paranoid and fearful of vampire attacks. She had stopped using her magic- it hadn't helped her when she needed it most, so why should she appease the spirits and use her powers to keep nature in balance? She was so sick of the spirits bossing her around. Kassandra ran her own life, she was her own boss. No dead witches had the right to push her around.

Kassandra's hazel eyes darted around the woods as she walked to her house. The sun was still up, so one would think that she would be safe from vampire attacks. But Kassandra knew that witches to protect vampires from the sun could create daylight rings. The day was just as safe as the night in her opinion.

Kassandra heard a branch crack, and she stiffened and searched for who had caused the noise. She saw nobody, and her mind came up with hundreds of different reasons behind the branch cracking, most involving vampires. Kassandra's theories weren't too far off, though.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

Kassandra met the dark eyes of a smirking man. She could feel death practically radiate off of her. He was a vampire. And he wasn't alone.

Two more men joined him, circling around Kassandra like predators. She raised her shoulders, gritted her jaw, and forced her fear down deep. She wouldn't give these monsters the pleasure of watching her be afraid of them. She was a witch. She was above them. They had no idea who they were messing with.

Kassandra settled her gaze on the man who spoke, and concentrated her energy, her power. It was the first time in years she used her magic. At first, the vampire clutched his head in pain, but then he straightened and glared at her. Kassandra was taken back. Why hadn't her spell lasted longer?

She knew the answer, though. The spirits weren't happy with her. She turned her back on them, now they were repaying the favor.

"

Witch," the vampire growled, suddenly gripping Kassandra roughly, digging his dirty nails into her skin. "I was going to make you my meal, witch, but now I have a better idea for a pretty little thing like you."

Kassandra's eyes widened at the wicked smirk on the vampire's lips. She didn't even have time to wonder what he meant by that, before the vampire bit his wrist, shoved it into her mouth, and forced her to drink his blood. Kassandra thrashed and struggled, but swallowed a few mouthfuls. Then the vampire sunk his teeth into Kassandra's neck, ripped her throat open, and killed her. She didn't stay dead for long, though.

Kassandra's life had been hell before she died. Her afterlife was worse. What was worse than hell, though?

Kassandra had been alone her last years as a mortal. The only thing that got her through the days was knowing that she'd eventually die and she wouldn't be alone anymore. But then she became a vampire, and that was no longer a possibility. She'd never feel the relief of death.

What was worse than hell? An eternity alone.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N:**This story will vaguely follow season three. Kind of, but not really. Hopefully it won't turn out as confusing as it sounds. Dianna Agron portrays Kassandra. This story is rated M for a reason. There will be sex scenes in the future of this story, so beware.

Review!

~Abby :)


	2. the ball

**Chapter one**

_The ball_

Kassandra smoothed down her dress as she stalked towards the Mikealson mansion. She didn't want to go to this thing- this ball. Why was she going? Because Esther somehow called her and invited her so that they could "talk." Esther, who had been dead for the past thousand years. Esther, who hadn't given her the time of day when Kassandra was still human. Esther, who almost too easily found out her cell phone number. Esther, who clearly had an ulterior motive behind her invitation.

Why was Kassandra going? Because Esther was a witch and she used to be a witch? Because they were "sisters?" Yeah, right. In Kassandra's mind, all the witches in the world who thought she should do them favors because they were "sisters" could go fuck themselves. She owed them nothing. Kassandra never owed people anything because she relied only on herself. She preferred relying only on herself. At least she knew she would never get double-crossed.

The only reason Kassandra was going to that damned ball was because she had nothing better to do. Her life was boring. It consisted of waking up, compelling her date from last night and sending him packing, cleaning her disastrous apartment, going to a bar, getting wasted and picking up a guy, and then repeating it all over again. At least driving five hours to a stupid ball would spice things up.

Kassandra tried her best not to stumble in her four-inch heels and to not trip on her long pink dress. Kassandra hated pink, but the dress she was wearing was the only thing close to a ball gown that she owned. She already regretted going to this stupid ball.

"May I take your-" a young woman started to say, but Kassandra just brushed past her. It wasn't the human's fault- she was just in a bad mood. She didn't want to talk to Esther fucking Mikealson; she didn't want to wear this stupid fucking pink dress. All Kassandra wanted was to be alone in her New York apartment with a bottle of whiskey and watch some bad TV. It was her own fault, though. She was the one who agreed to go.

Kassandra grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter and tossed it back. She ignored the wrinkled noses and the pointed stares thrown her way at her lack of manners. She felt better with alcohol in her. It made her urges to rip throats out goes away.

On her second glass of champagne, Kassandra began to walk around the huge room she was in. It was full of people in fancy clothes making small talk. Every now and then she'd see a vampire, though none of them knew her. She was careful not run into any of the originals. Not that she thought they'd remember her- the blunt, surly, witch who lacked manners. It wouldn't matter if they did. But Kassandra thought it would be better if she remained anonymous at this ball, and throughout life in general.

Kassandra's hazel eyes wandered through the crowd, thinking about who they are and what importance they held, to be invited to the Mikealson ball. She wondered if they knew that the Mikealson children weren't just vampires, but the first of their kind. She wondered if they knew that their mother, Esther, was a great, powerful witch. Strong enough to create vampires, strong enough to come back from the dead a thousand years after she died. She wondered if the humans knew anything about the people around them, or if they were just blissfully oblivious. Kassandra didn't know which one was better.

As Kassandra started on her third glass of champagne, she spotted them; the originals. The five Mikealson siblings- the ones that made it out of the eleventh century. She remembered Henrik, the youngest sibling who died. It was his death that caused Esther to turn her remaining children into vampires. It was his death that was the reason Kassandra lost what little she had in the first place, and was why she was alive in the twenty first century, instead of being dead in the eleventh, like she should have been. She also remembered Henrik as the young boy who would play with Peter. The two boys had been great friends, before they both died-

Kassandra quickly shook her head. She couldn't think about her poor baby brother. If she did, all pretenses of control over herself would shatter. To distract herself, Kassandra focused on the original family.

The first person she saw was Rebekah. The youngest sibling and the only girl. She hadn't seen any of the originals in a thousand years, but she had heard plenty of stories about them. Stories like how Rebekah had been daggered for ninety years by Klaus. She hadn't really spoken to Rebekah when they were both human- she hadn't really spoken to any of the Mikealson siblings- but she knew that Rebekah hadn't been Tatia's biggest fan. Most women in their village hadn't been too fond of Tatia. But Rebekah's reason was different. She didn't like Tatia because the Petrova had been hell bent on ripping her brothers apart- or so it seemed. Tatia had been Kassandra's best friend, but even she hadn't been too proud of her friend for getting in between two brothers. In the end, she paid for it. Tatia should have known better, though.

She saw Klaus next. The hybrid. The man who daggered his siblings and kept them in coffins. The man who killed both of his parents. Kassandra would make sure not to piss him off. Her hazel eyes wandered over to Finn. He had been daggered for over nine hundred years. Kassandra would doubt that to be very fun. She pitied the poor, unlucky bastard.

Next she saw Kol. She knew that Kol had been daggered for around a century, and was a flirt, a manwhore. He was arrogant and had a traditional sense about vampires killing humans. Kassandra herself placed more value on life than traditionalists like Kol, but every now and then she dropped a body.

Lastly, she saw Elijah. Moral, honorable, aloof, gentlemanly Elijah. He was handsome, always had been. All of the originals were good looking. Kassandra had always had a secret soft spot for the eldest sibling, even if she had said two words to him her entire life. Back in their human days, she even caught herself being jealous of Tatia, for having Elijah wrapped around her finger. But that was a thousand years ago. Now, Kassandra just recognized Elijah as a being who was more than capable of ripping her heart out, and who looked really good in a tux.

Suddenly, Elijah caught Kassandra staring at him, and his brown eyes met her hazel ones. She quickly looked away, and busied herself with finishing her glass of champagne. Then she disappeared into the crowd so that Elijah couldn't make eye contact with her again.

As she was getting a fourth glass, Kassandra felt a tug on her arm. She turned around to see a waiter looking down at her. "Miss Kassandra?" he asked her in a business-like tone. She nodded slowly, blonde eyebrows furrowed. "Your company is required by Missus Mikealson."

Kassandra sighed. And here she was hoping that she could score a few free drinks and leave the ball before she would have to face Esther. But she allowed the waiter to lead her upstairs to Esther.

When Kassandra walked into a small room, she saw Esther sitting down on a couch, burning sage. She was casting a privacy spell, so that nobody would overhear them. Kassandra remembered that much.

"Kassandra Patrikson," Esther said, walking up to her as the waiter left the room, closing the door behind him. "It has been so long since I last saw you. You look so much like Gabriella, but you have Patrik's eyes."

Kassandra crossed her arms over her chest. The witch was trying to get her guard down with talk about her parents, like she actually knew them. Kassandra didn't even really know her father, Patrik. He had pissed the wolves off one full moon and had his intestines shredded. His brother, Jon, had been more of a father to Kassandra than he ever had been.

"It's not Kassandra Patrikson," she said gruffly, pushing a lock of blonde hair behind her ear.

"Ah, yes," Esther said, giving her a pointed look. "You have changed your surname over the many centuries. Kassandra Patrikson. Kassandra Hennessy. Kassandra Black. Kassandra Stark. Who are you this century?"

"Kassandra Blake," she muttered. Esther smiled at her, but it seemed cold.

"Well then, Miss Blake, I am delighted that you could make it. Would you please sit down with me? There is something we must discuss." Esther gestured to the couch. Kassandra sighed and followed her before sitting down across from her.

"Why did you invite me here?" Kassandra asked her bluntly, choosing not to beat around the bush.

Esther chose her words carefully. "It has been a long time, Kassandra. I wanted to talk to my fellow witch about-"

"Bullshit," Kassandra said, cutting her off. Esther raised her eyebrows at her. "You want something from me. What is it?"

"Kassandra-" Esther started to say, but she cut her off again.

"You want something from me. Just say it. You don't call up somebody you haven't seen in a millennium and invite them to a ball unless you want something. So what do you want?" Kassandra crossed her arms over her chest and stared expectantly at Esther.

She sighed. "Your mother had things that no other witch- not this lifetime or any lifetime- had. Grimoires and herbs- things for spells and such. Now, I'm assuming that when she died, you kept her old things. Did you not?"

Kassandra smirked triumphantly to herself about being right before frowning. Why would Esther want a thousand year old spell book and some dried up herbs? "Why do you need them?" she asked her.

"Do you have them still?" Esther persisted.

"Why do you need them?" she repeated stubbornly.

Esther sighed. "For… spells." She didn't trust Kassandra enough to tell her about her plans to kill her children. If any of them, other than Finn, found out, the plan would be ruined. Esther could make do without some of Gabriella's old spells, but she figured that she would need them at some point in time.

Kassandra stared skeptically at Esther. Spells. How convincing. It didn't matter, anyhow. "I don't know, Esther," she said honestly. "I might, in some storage warehouse around the world, but I'm guessing it's a long shot. Most of my mother's things stayed in the eleventh century with her."

Esther sighed, disappointed. She knew that it was unlikely that Gabriella's spells were still around. It was unfortunate, though. Gabriella's spells were very powerful. She had been a very talented witch.

"Well, thank you anyway, Kassandra," Esther said, standing up. Kassandra took the hint and stood up as well.

"I should be going. I have a long drive," she said, slightly anxious to get out of Mystic Falls and back to New York.

"No, stay," Esther said unconvincingly. She wanted Kassandra to leave just as much as she wanted to leave.

Kassandra rolled her eyes but didn't call the witch out. Instead, she walked unceremoniously out of the room without saying goodbye. She never did like Esther.

Kassandra walked down the flight of stairs, careful not to trip over her ugly dress or stumble in her too high heels. She was focused on getting out of the huge mansion. After being on her own for so long, there was something unsettling about being in a huge crowd of people.

Suddenly, Kassandra tripped and stumbled right into a strong, tuxedo-covered chest. Arms steadied her and helped her back onto her own two feet. "Are you alright?" a deep voice asked her, a familiar voice.

Kassandra sighed to herself and looked up to meet eyes the color of oak. "I'm just peachy," she muttered gruffly, pulling away from him.

An amused smile lingered on Elijah's lips, before he frowned down at her. She looked familiar to him, yet Elijah couldn't place a name to her face.

Kassandra's eyes drifted away from him and back again before she shifted uncomfortably. "Well, thanks," she said, before moving to walk around him.

Elijah grabbed Kassandra's arm before she could leave. "Should I remember you?" he asked her, eyebrows furrowed.

Kassandra pulled her arm away from him. "Doubt it," she said, pushing a curl out of her eyes. "I'm not very memorable."

Elijah's lip twitched upward in amusement. But he knew this girl from somewhere, he was sure of it. "I'm Elijah," he said politely, offering her his hand.

"I know," she replied casually, and Elijah dropped his hand. "I really must be going," she told him.

Elijah opened his mouth to stop her, but Kassandra was already pushing through the crowd, gone. She was like Cinderella, though she didn't leave behind an uncomfortable glass slipper.

Little did Elijah know, he'd see his Cinderella again very soon.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **review!

~Abby:)


	3. nightmares

**Chapter two**

_Nightmares_

_Kassandra stumbled around her village, the village she was born and raised in. Only, the village was destroyed. Houses were on fire, smoke filled the air. There were screams, blood curdling screams. Kassandra looked hastily around for her family. Her layered blonde hair whipped in her face. She had a hard time seeing anything through the smoke. It stung her eyes and made it hard to breath. She could feel the heat from the fire on her skin when she wandered too close to a house._

_She looked for her mother, for her uncle, for Tatia. But mostly, she looked for Peter. Where was he? Her dear little brother, not even thirteen yet. "Peter!" she screamed until her voice was hoarse. "Peter! Peter!"_

_She pushed and stumbled through the smoke, coughing every now and then when she breathed smoky air in. "Peter!" she repeated his name over and over again, chanting it almost. _

_Suddenly, Kassandra tripped and stumbled, landing on her hands and knees. She closed her hazel eyes to stop them from stinging, due to the smoke. She frowned when she realized she had landing in something hot and sticky and thick. She opened her eyes and peered through the smoke, down at the ground. Her eyes widened, horrified, at the sight below her._

_She was in a pool of fresh blood._

_She gasped and stumbled, in a frenzy to get out of the blood. She stood up again and started running. Her hands were coated in blood, and the rest of her body was splattered in it. _

"_Peter! Peter, please!" her eyes watered, partly out of the smoke, and partly out of fear for her little brother._

_There was a hiss in her ear, a low, evil sound. It made the hairs on the back of Kassandra's neck raise. She stopped suddenly, her voice leaving her. "Kassssssandra," an almost demonic voice hissed. She was frozen in fear. "Kassssssandra."_

_A cold, clammy hand clamped down on her arm. It was rotted, scabby, decayed. It was a dead arm, belonging to a dead person. The hand's grip was strong and tight and bruising. Kassandra screamed and yanked away from the hand, before sprinting away as fast as she could._

"_Peter!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. "Peter!"_

"_Kassie!"_

_Peter's voice was heartbreaking. He sounded so scared, so terrified. "Kassie! Help me! Kassie! Save me!"_

"_I'm coming, Peter! I'm coming!" She ran faster towards his voice. She'd save her baby brother if it was the last thing she'd do._

"_Kassie-!" Peter's voice cut off into a scream and Kassandra ran as fast as her legs would carry her._

_The smoke cleared away into a charred field, blood practically running down the trees. She looked around for her brother. She had to save him, she had to keep him safe. She just had to. She was the big sister, and he was her little brother. It was her job, to protect him._

"_Peter! Where are you?" she looked miserably around for him, but he wasn't in sight. _

_Suddenly, she spotted a small little body near the edge of the field. It was completely still. A sob escaped Kassandra's throat, and she slowly approached it. _

"_Peter…"_

_Peter was still and pale, too pale to be healthy. His blonde hair was plastered to his face by sweat and blood. His blue eyes, so bright and clear, were glazed over. His throat was ripped open, blood still dripping from the fresh room._

_Kassandra covered her mouth with her hand and sank to the ground. No, not Peter. Not her baby brother. She held him in her arms when he was born. She was all of ten at the time, but she remembered that he opened his big blue eyes for the first time and stared up at her._

"_Peter…" she muffled her sobs with her hands and shook silently. "Peter, please come back…"_

"_Kassie." Her eyes opened and snapped to her brother, her dead brother. He remained still and unmoving, but words still fell from his lips. "Why didn't you save me?"_

"_I-I tried, Peter," she insisted. "I tried. I promise."_

"_You were supposed to save me." Peter's corpse continued to talk, paying no mind to her meaningless words. "You were supposed to, Kassie. Why didn't you? Why did you let me die?"_

"_Peter, I-I didn't! I didn't mean to! Please, Peter!"_

"_You let me die," Dead Peter accused. "You're the reason I'm dead. How could you let those monsters get me, Kassie? How could you?"_

_She tried to choke out a senseless apology, but it got stuck in her throat._

"_How could you?"_

_She closed her eyes, tears pouring down her cheeks. She couldn't run away, and was forced to listen to Peter repeat that one question over and over again._

"_How could you let me die?"_

_Suddenly, Kassandra was ripped away from Peter, and her scream echoed around the charred field. She saw red eyes, a flash of fangs, and then the razor sharp teeth tore into her throat._

"_How could you?"_

Kassandra shot up in her bed, panting. She was sweating like crazy. She closed her eyes, but opened them again instantly. The image of her dead brother was what she saw when she shut her eyelids.

It was just a nightmare. Just another nightmare.

_**~SYH~**_

"You look like shit."

Kassandra rolled he eyes as she walked into the bar she worked at, _Gracie's Place. _It had just barely escaped being classified as a dive bar, but Kassandra loved it. She got free shots and she didn't hate most of her co-workers.

"Bite me, Ruby," she replied. She hardly got any sleep. What, with her nightmare and the fact that she didn't get home until two in the morning from that shitty ball.

Ruby, a short black girl around twenty five, grinned back at her. "You've got the fangs, Kass," she reminded her friend.

Kassandra just rolled her eyes again. Out of all the people she met all over the world over her thousand years of life, Ruby was the one girl Kassandra could ever call a friend, besides Tatia. But, honestly, Kassandra liked Ruby better than Tatia. She was less slutty and didn't have a magic vagina that attracted guys to her like moths to a flame.

"Whatever, witch bitch," she replied, walking behind the bar. She started wiping down glasses with Ruby.

Ruby rolled her blue eyes, standing out even more against her dark skin, and hip bumped Kassandra. Ruby was a witch and knew all about Kassandra being a thousand year old vampire who used to be a witch. She wasn't judgy like other witches, though. Ruby was probably the one witch in existence who treated people based on who they were, not what they were. She and Kassandra got along just fine because of it.

"Long night? When did you get home from that ball thing?" she asked Kassandra, who sighed.

"You were right- I totally regret going to that stupid ball."

Ruby smirked smugly. "Told you so, vampy," she teased.

"Kiss my ass, witchy," Kassandra retorted.

"What did Esther want?" Ruby asked curiously, wiping down the bar.

"Some old Grimoires and herbs of my mother's," Kassandra answered, frowning. She still didn't know why Esther really wanted those things.

"Weird, did she say why?"

Kassandra shook her head. "Nope, she was really vague and cryptic about the whole thing. It doesn't really matter, though. I doubt that my mother's things still exist."

"Well, then Esther's just shit out of luck," Ruby said.

"Guess so."

The two cleaned up the bar for a few more silent moments, until Kassandra finally spoke again. "I saw them there," she said casually, stacking glasses.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "Who?"

Kassandra rolled her hazel eyes. "Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie," she said sarcastically. "I saw the originals! Who do you think I saw, dumbass?"

Ruby scowled. "Bite me, Kass."

"My pleasure, Rube."

Ruby rolled her eyes and bumped Kassandra again. "Did you say anything to them?" she asked her, focusing her blue eyes on a glass that had a ring that refused to go away.

Kassandra snorted. "What would I say to them. 'Hey there. Remember me? The freaky witch who lived in the same village as you? No? okay then, sorry to both you. Please don't rip my throat out with your teeth.'"

Ruby rolled her eyes again. "Well, if you didn't talk to them, what did you do?"

"Just… watched them, I guess," Kassandra muttered, rearranging a row of whiskey bottles so their labels faced outwards.

"That's not stalkerish of you," Ruby said sarcastically.

"Shut up," Kassandra said, running a hand through her messy blonde hair. "If it makes you happy, Elijah and I had a brief conversation after a tripped right into his arms. I think he remembered me, but I wasn't going to tell him who I was so easily."

"That's my girl, play hard to get," she said approvingly. "Isn't Elijah hot?"

Kassandra almost sighed dreamily, like girls do in movies when they're thinking of guys they have crushes on. But she stopped herself before she could. "He's a very good looking man, that's all I'll say. He looks amazing in a tux, too. All of the originals are good looking, Ruby."

"What a gene pool I'd love to swim in," Ruby muttered.

Kassandra scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Why do I put up with you?" she asked.

"Because you have no other friends," Ruby shot back.

Kassandra actually didn't mind being alone- she was used to it- but she didn't correct Ruby. "Something like that," she agreed.

After the two were finished cleaning the bar, Ruby grabbed a bottle of liquor and the two sat down at a table. "So, my mom called me this morning," Ruby started to say, pouring two shots.

"Did she send me her love?" Kassandra asked sarcastically. Ruby's mother wanted nothing more than to stake Kassandra for "corrupting" her daughter. Ruby's aunt already disowned her niece for befriending a very old vampire.

Ruby just rolled her eyes at her friend. "She was freaking out, actually. Said that she felt a drastic shift in nature while she was making breakfast, like something big was going to go down tonight. Weird, huh?"

"Yeah, weird," Kassandra agreed. Silently, she couldn't help but think that Esther had something to do with whatever was going to go down tonight.

A thousand years had passed since Kassandra last practiced magic, but she still had a good gut sense.

_**~SYH~**_

The next night, Kassandra walked into _Gracie's _for her shift. She had had yet another nightmare, and wasn't in the best mood. It only got worse when she saw who was waitressing with Ruby.

"Kassandra, you know, I have something for those bags under your eyes," Tasha told her snidely, pushing her dark brown hair out of her eyes and smirking at the old vampire.

Kassandra just glared back. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just rip her throat out right now," she muttered to Ruby, as her friend pulled her towards the bar.

"I can't think of one right now, but I'm sure one exists," Ruby whispered back.

Kassandra spent the next half an hour making drinks in her borderline slutty black and white _Gracie's Place _uniform. She managed to ignore Tasha most of the time, but couldn't resist dumping a martini down the front of her shirt.

Smirking victoriously as Tasha stormed away to clean up, Kassandra turned to face the next customer she had to serve. "What can I get-" She cut herself off, eyes wide.

There, sitting at the bar, was Elijah.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: AussieElle, SomebodyWhoCares, Belinda, and Samantha meyers for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	4. drink's on me

**Chapter three**

_Drinks on me_

Kassandra quickly turned around, eyes wide. She doubted Elijah being at the bar she worked at was a bad thing, that he'd kill her. But you never knew with originals. She didn't trust them. Besides, the more time they spent together, the more likely Elijah was to remember her. And Kassandra preferred to remain anonymous.

She took a deep breath and looked back to Elijah. She had to act normal. Maybe he wouldn't remember her, from the ball or from their human life. One look in Elijah's eyes and Kassandra knew that he had much bigger things on his mind than some strange girl he met at his family's ball. He looked deep in thought, and she could see through the crack in his stoic mask. Something big had happened to him, something bad. Elijah looked lost and hurt and… betrayed. Worse, he didn't look surprised by the betrayal.

Without asking, Kassandra poured him a shot of bourbon and pushed it in front of him. He looked up at her, startled. She saw a flicker of recognition in his brown eyes, but he didn't say anything about it. "I didn't order this," he said, eyebrows furrowed slightly.

"But you need it. Badly," she said, pushing it closer to him. "You need a shot of bourbon like a fish needs water. Unless you can't handle it?" she raised an eyebrow, teasing him. "I can always make you one of those girly drinks, with fruit and an umbrella."

A faint smile played across Elijah's lips, before he silently tossed the shot back with an ease that could only be achieved by a person comfortable with drinking whiskey. Kassandra poured him another, and he drank that too.

When he went to reach for his wallet, she waved him away. He hesitated, his hand still in his pocket. "Drink's on me," she told him. Kassandra didn't know what had overcome him to comp his drinks, but she felt like she had to. He looked beyond stressed. Elijah deserved a few free shots of bourbon.

"Are you sure?" he asked, and Kassandra nodded.

"Your money's no good here," she added when Elijah didn't remove his hand from his pocket. He sighed, but finally nodded.

Kassandra refilled his shot glass, but Elijah didn't reach to drink it. Along her, other customers buzzed, waiting to have their orders taken. Some cleared their throats in agitation, trying to get her attention. Kassandra ignored them, though. She didn't take her eyes off of Elijah, and she didn't leave him. A part of her- the part that was full of dangerous curiosity- wanted to know what was the cause of this lost looking original. He wasn't talking, though. Usually, she would have been grateful. Drunken customers had a tendency to spill their problems out to her. She had enough problems by herself without dealing with theirs. But now, she wanted Elijah to spill his problems out to her, she wanted her curiosity to be satisfied. He wasn't talking, though. Kassandra knew better than to push him.

"Hey, lady!"

Kassandra's hazel eyes flickered over to an angry looking customer. "Do you wanna start doing your job and take other people's orders?" he asked her dryly.

She rolled her eyes. "Fuck off," she said, turning back to Elijah.

The man cursed her out and then left. Several others left too. Elijah chuckled and Kassandra raised an eyebrow at him. "You're not very good at your job, are you?"

Kassandra wasn't offended. She merely shrugged. "I guess that's open to interpretation. I'm good at the dealing with alcohol part. With all the drinking I do on my spare time, one would think that this would be my dream job. It's the dealing with customers I suck at. This may shock you, but my people skills are a little rusty." She smirked at him.

Elijah smiled again, the corners of his mouth twitching upward. "I never would have noticed if you hadn't told me," he teased, staring down his shot of bourbon.

"If you don't mind me asking, why haven't you lost your job yet?" Elijah asked her.

Kassandra didn't mind. "I'm sleeping with the owner," she replied casually. Elijah raised his eyebrows but said nothing more.

"That was a joke," she informed him. "The owner's creepy- I have_some_standards."

Elijah relaxed a bit, his smile coming back. "You have a strange sense of humor."

Kassandra shrugged. "So I've been told."

"Though, I suppose it's hard to be fired from a job when you can just compel the owner to hire you again," he continued casually.

Kassandra stiffened. She didn't expect him to bring this up. She didn't expect him to remember her. But Elijah was craftier, more cunning than he seemed. He was smarter, too. Of course he remembered her. He just didn't remember everything.

"You remember," she muttered, her eyes tracing the pattern in the bar.

"I do," Elijah agreed simply.

"Do you remember who I am?" she asked, looking up and meeting his eyes.

Elijah raised an eyebrow. "So we_have_met before."

"I'll take that as a no," Kassandra said. "You just remember me from the ball."

"Yes, the strange little party crasher, silently judging everybody while inhaling large amounts of champagne," Elijah said.

Kassandra shrugged. "Yeah, that sounds like me."

"What were you doing there, at the ball?" he asked her, raising an eyebrow again.

Kassandra thought about telling Elijah the truth or not. She shrugged, before thinking_what the hell?_"Your mother invited me," she admitted, picking up a rag and wiping the already spotless bar. "So, technically, I wasn't a party crasher."

Elijah's eyes darkened at the mention of his mother. Kassandra raised an eyebrow. "You don't seem so happy with Esther. What'd she do to you?"

He looked down at the bar. "I don't want to talk about my mother," he said finally. Whatever had put him into this state, Kassandra knew that it had something to do with Esther.

"Understandable. She's a conniving bitch," Kassandra said bluntly. Then she looked back up at him and raised an eyebrow daringly. "Or should I not talk about your mother like that?"

"You can talk about my mother however you like," Elijah said. "I bet whatever you have to say about her is true."

Yes, something had definitely happened between Elijah and his mother.

The two fell into a silence. That's when Kassandra started to notice that the bar was almost completely empty. Only drunks, college kids, bored looking waitresses- Ruby among them- and her and Elijah remained in_Gracie's._Whether that had to do with Kassandra's lack of people skills or not, she didn't know.

"Don't you think it isn't fair that you know everything about me, yet I don't even know your name?" he continued, pulling Kassandra's attention back to him.

She was suddenly glad that she forgot her nametag at home. "Not really. You and your family's famous- I'm just a strange little party crasher, silently judging everybody while inhaling large amounts of champagne," she said with a slight smirk, repeating his earlier words.

Elijah suddenly looked determined. Kassandra was sure that the shots of bourbon were starting to get him drunk. "What's your name?" he asked her.

Kassandra looked away. She wasn't read to reveal her identity just yet. "You'll have to earn that," she told him.

A challenge. Elijah didn't particularly mind challenges, but he didn't search them out either. Yet, and it could have very easily been the alcohol he had consumed, he liked the idea of the girl in front of him, the familiar stranger, being a challenge. The alcohol definitely had something to do with it.

"Then I'll earn it," Elijah said, as if that was simplest thing ever.

"Kassandra smirked slightly. She liked his confidence. "Good luck, then. I'm not so easily impressed," she informed him.

"No, I don't think you are," he agreed. "You don't seem like that kind of woman."

"Good, because I'm not."

Elijah pushed his shot glass around. "Honestly, should remember you? Really, should I?" he asked quietly after a few silent moments.

Kassandra studied her nails, the black paint on them chipped. "Honestly? No, you shouldn't. We met a long time ago. I don't think we've ever been in the same room alone together. And the longest conversation we've ever had last about five words. That's why I'm not offended that you don't remember me," she told him.

"Then how come you remember me?" Elijah retorted, eyes wide with a brutal honesty that could only be achieved by alcohol.

Kassandra looked down again. That was a good question. How come she remembered the originals perfectly, yet Elijah couldn't even remember her name? She didn't know the answer, and she didn't want to know. She was sure that it would make her sad and pathetic and weak, things Kassandra wasn't.

"That's a good question," she said and nothing more. Elijah frowned at her, studying her features. She was familiar. The longer he talked to her, the more familiar she became. He wanted to know so badly. Her name was on the tip of his tongue. He knew who she was, he just couldn't remember.

"How long have you been a vampire?" Elijah asked Kassandra suddenly.

"A very long time," she told him, grabbing a random glass and washing it, not caring if it was dirty or not.

"As long as me?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

She nodded slowly. "Yes, I believe that I'm around your age, younger, of course. But I don't have the cool powers you originals do." She smirked at him. She was giving him so many clues, more than she wanted to give.

Elijah smiled his smile. It was a hundred percent Elijah. No other being-human or otherwise- possessed it. Suddenly, something occurred to him. "I could compel you to tell me who you are," he said slowly.

Kassandra shrugged. Of course the thought had already occurred to her. She wasn't stupid, after all. "Yes, I suppose you could," she said. "But you won't."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "And what makes you so sure?"

"Because that would be cheating, Elijah," she said with a teasing grin. "And I've heard you to be more honorable than that."

That was the first time Kassandra had spoken his name to him. For some reason, some strange reason, it changed things between them. It made things more real.

"Come on, let's go."

Kassandra looked up at Ruby, who raised her eyebrows at her friend, a smirk playing on her lips. She had no idea that her vampire friend was talking to an original. All she saw was a hot, slightly drunk man who looked good in a suit.

"I'm making Tasha close up. Now you better walk me home. I don't trust this neighborhood past midnight. I mean, unless you have other plans…" Ruby trailed off, her smirk growing bigger.

Kassandra rolled her eyes, not embarrassed in the slightest by her friend's suggestive words. "It's fine, Ruby. I'll meet you up front in a second."

Ruby winked at Kassandra before walking away, leaving Elijah and Kassandra alone. "You better be going," he said. "I better be going."

Kassandra nodded, though she really didn't want to leave. She actually enjoyed talking to Elijah. He was good company slightly drunk. She didn't know how he was completely sober. She kind of wanted to find out.

"It was nice talking to you," Kassandra continued, slowly walking around the bar. "We'll have to do it again some other time."

Elijah nodded but didn't say anything else. As Kassandra walked past him, she stopped suddenly and leaned into him, so that her breath tickled his ear. "My name's Kassandra," she whispered, before pulling away.

She didn't know what had compelled her to tell him her name, but she just had to. She wanted to. Kassandra quickly pulled away from him, and she was out of the bar before Elijah looked back at her, recognition dawning in his eyes.

He remembered who she was.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N:**thank you to: Lady Wesker, Katherine Sparrow, Belinda and SomebodyWhoCares for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	5. live a little

**Chapter four**

_Live a little _

"_Kassie! Stop it!"_

"_Stop what, Peter?" she asked innocently, her hazel eyes twinkling with mischief. Kassandra raised her hand and ruffled her little brother's hair again, his blonde hair- the exact shade of Kassandra's- hitting his shoulders. _

_He pouted and pushed her hand away again. "Stop it, Kassie!" he whined. "Stop it, or- or- I'll tell mother!" His eyes lit up at the threat. Mother always worked as a threat for him, but Kassandra wasn't afraid of any so-called authority figure._

_Rolling her eyes, she just mussed up her little brother's hair again. "Oh, mother! I'm so scared, Pete! You've really got me now!" she said sarcastically. "And if you keep calling me 'Kassie,' I'll cut off your hair in your sleep," she added as an afterthought._

_Peter pushed his sister away and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why are you so mean to me?" he asked her, pouting._

_Kassandra rolled her eyes to him. "You have no right complaining, Peter. This isn't me being mean. Trust me, you would know if I was being mean to you. This is just how I show affection," she told him, making to muss up his hair again. Peter dodged her hand, though._

"_If this is you showing affection, I do not want to be there when you're angry," he retorted, and Kassandra smirked._

"_No, you wouldn't, Peter," she agreed. "Now, what should we do on our big bonding day?" she asked, smoothing down her wrinkly dress. Then she grabbed her brother's hand and began to walk towards the village. Already, the townspeople were buzzing, trading objects and buying things necessary for survival. _

_Peter pulled his hand away, embarrassed in case any of his friends saw him holding his sister's hand. "Actually, I was supposed to go with Henrik and his brothers into the woods today. They were going to teach us how to swordfight…" Peter trailed off awkwardly._

_Kassandra frowned, eyebrows furrowed. "But… we had plans, Peter. We were supposed to sibling bond today. We haven't spent a day together in forever," she said, disappointment thick in her voice. No matter how embarrassing it would be to admit it, Kassandra had been looking forward to spending time with her little brother._

"_I thought that was just something we said to get mother off of our case," Peter said, causing Kassandra to frown even more. Sensing her disappointment, he added, "But we can spend the day together, Kassie, if you really want to. I can tell Henrik to go on without me." But by the way Peter bit his lip and slumped his shoulders in disappointment, he really didn't want to. _

_Kassandra shook her head. It was fine, no big deal. Of course Peter would rather spend time with Henrik and his big brothers, fighting and doing manly things, than with his big sister. He wasn't a child anymore. It was now considered embarrassing to get caught spending time with your big sister. Still, she was hurt and disappointed. She missed the days where Peter worshiped the ground she walked on, like she had been a goddess. She missed the days when he idolized her. She missed the days where Peter actually wanted to be seen in public with her._

"_Go, Pete. Okay? We can spend another day together, right?" Kassandra forced a smile down at her little brother trying her best to pretend that everything was normal._

_Peter nodded excitedly, knowing that she was going to let him go. "Are you sure, Kassie?" he asked, though he was already searching for Henrik._

"_Yes, Little Man. Now get out of my sight before I change my mind and make you spend the day picking out fabrics for dresses with me," she threatened weakly._

_Peter rolled his eyes and then began to walk away. Kassandra watched him go, already planning on what she would do. She pushed all plans with Tatia aside for this day with Peter. Maybe she'd hide out in the woods, so that her mother wouldn't spot her and force her to practice magic with her._

_Suddenly, Peter stopped and turned back around. Kassandra frowned and opened her mouth to ask him what he was doing, when he suddenly ran back and wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her._

_Kassandra softened, a small smile gracing her lips. She mussed Peter's blonde hair one last time before pulling away from him. "Scram, Little Man. I'd hate for you to miss-" her hazel eyes widened at the sight of her brother's face, and her words cut off into a scream._

_Peter's blue eyes were blank and empty, glazed over with death. Blood dripped down his face, from every crevice possible. There were visible bite marks on his neck, dripping fresh blood. His arms went slack, and he fell backwards onto the ground._

"_Peter!" she screamed, falling to her knees._

"_Why did you let the monsters kill me, Kassie?"_

Kassandra bolted up in her bed, sweating like crazy and her dead heart beating fast in her chest. Just another nightmare. It was just another stupid fucking nightmare.

She sighed and covered her face with her hands. Her nightmares were starting up again. Once every couple centuries, nightmares would hit her heard, when they were usually just scattered out. Now all Kassandra could do was wait until they were over with- and stock up on coffee, since she wouldn't be getting any sleep for a while.

After lying in bed for what could have been minutes or hours, Kassandra got out of bed and took a long, hot shower. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Peter's lifeless face. She heard his words _"Why did you let the monsters kill me, Kassie?" _repeated over and over again in her ears, muffled only by the running water.

"Shut up!"

Kassandra startled even herself by her outburst. She was yelling at her dead brother for words he had never said- at least to her face. She was losing her mind. Finally, Kassandra was being driven to insanity.

Even when she got out of the shower, she could still hear the words echoing in her head, over and over again. _Why did you let the monsters kill me? Why did you let the monsters kill me? Why did you let the monsters kill me? _Kassandra could find no peace. She turned on music- loud, obnoxious music. The kind that made her neighbors knock on walls and yell profanities. Still, the words wouldn't stop running in her head. Her brother's voice wouldn't stop haunting her. He was just another one of her ghosts.

Finally, she had had enough. She needed to get out of her apartment. Kassandra turned off her music and changed into jeans and a plain green long sleeved shirt. It was her favorite because it brought out the green in her eyes.

Kassandra's wavy blonde hair made the back of her shirt wet as she walked through the streets of New York City, buzzing even though it was only six forty-five in the morning. That was why she loved New York City. It was still alive while the rest of the world was dead. It truly was the city that never sleeps.

Her feet found the all too familiar path to a grungy diner that served the best pancakes on planet earth. She considered calling Ruby, but knew that the witch would turn her into a frog if she woke her up before ten o'clock. Besides, the noise of the city had sufficiently blocked out her brother's voice. She'd be fine once she got herself chocolate chip pancakes and coffee.

"Morning, Kassandra," the greasy fry cook who she had secretly nicknamed Bubba in her head said gruffly to her. The diner was the kind of place where the staff knew their regulars by name and took extra special care of them.

"Morning." She nodded to Bubba before walking to her usual booth in the corner and sitting down. A few seconds later, the familiar waitress who snapped her gum loudly, had a sleeve of tattoos, and bright colors in her hair came to her booth to double check that Kassandra wanted her usual.

She loved the diner because everything was safe and familiar. She knew everything and everyone, from the layer of grease on the tiled floor to the bored looking cashier who secretly stuffed twenties into his pocket when he thought no one was looking. She knew all of the fellow patrons there- an elderly couple who talked about their grandchildren constantly, three hungover college students who she had probably served the night before, a trucker with a grizzly beard who checked out the waitress' ass when she walked past him, Elijah, sitting a few booths away from her, nose wrinkled in disgust by the coffee, watching her-

Kassandra started, jumping slightly. So, there was one change in the diner. Elijah. He had never been there before. He wasn't a part of the routine there. She wasn't supposed to see him so soon. Not this week, maybe not even this decade. Yet, there he was, staring at her, eyebrows furrowed slightly. And he remembered her. That was her fault too.

Kassandra sighed before getting out of the booth. She didn't really feel like avoiding Elijah's questioning looks and pretending he wasn't there. So much for routine. She walked over to Elijah's booth and slid in across from him, disrupting the routine of the diner, the normalcy. For all Kassandra knew, she might've put a tear in the space-time continuum. But she doubted sitting in a different booth, talking to an original caused that much trouble. She was just being over-dramatic.

"Kassandra," Elijah said casually, as if he had always known who she was. He took another sip of his coffee before pushing it away in disgust. She smiled slightly.

"Elijah," she greeted. "The coffee sucks here, by the way."

"That much I figured." He raised an eyebrow at her. "If the coffee is less than desirable, why do you come here? By the way everyone reacts to you, you seem to be a regular here."

"For the pancakes," she replied. "This place makes damn good pancakes. I've lived a thousand years, and I've never tasted better pancakes in my life. I come here pretty much every day."

The corner of Elijah's mouth twitched upward in amusement. "For the pancakes," he supplied, brown eyes full of curiosity and amusement.

"Well, definitely not for the staff's winning personalities," Kassandra retorted, gesturing to the glowering cashier, glaring waitress, and scary looking fry cook.

Elijah smiled a full-blown smile. "I don't think you should be judging them, Kassandra," he told her, and she decided absentmindedly that she loved the way he said her name, the way his accent wrapped around it, making it sound better, fancier than it was.

She just shrugged. "At least I can make a decent cup of coffee," she muttered.

"Not to forget your winning personality," Elijah added, eyes twinkling with amusement.

Kassandra grinned despite herself, as the waitress with the tattoos delivered her pancakes and terrible coffee. She was slightly amazed at how easy it was to have a decent conversation with Elijah about nothing at all. She had never really come across another person who possessed that trait. She remembered him to be an honorable man, aloof yet still charming. It had to be that charm of his. Kassandra possessed about as much charm as the bottom of her shoe.

She stabbed a square of pancake, transferred it into her mouth, chewed, and swallowed. The pancakes were like heaven to her taste buds. She had never tasted anything better in her life. Elijah watched her curiously as she devoured half her pancakes before raising an eyebrow back at him and pushing her plate towards him.

"Have a bite," she said, but he was already shaking his head.

Kassandra fake pouted. "Come on, Elijah. Live a little. Share a plate of pancakes with a girl you haven't seen in a thousand years," she said.

He hesitated and she sighed. "It really must get tiring, being so boring all the time," she said innocently with a devilish smirk. Elijah couldn't help but chuckle. She and Kol would get along just fine, he was sure of it.

He gave in and ate a small square of pancake. Kassandra was right, of course. Those were the best pancakes he had ever tasted. Now he knew why she came to this dreary, dirty diner.

Kassandra smirked to herself and pulled her plate back to her. He didn't need to say anything- she knew she was right. He loved them.

"Best damn pancakes in New York City," she murmured to herself as she finished off her breakfast.

When she was done, the waitress cleared away her plate. Kassandra looked back to Elijah, eyebrows furrowed slightly. She could go back to her apartment and listen to her little brother's voice in her head, or she could spend some more time with the original.

On a complete whim, Kassandra asked, "What are you doing today?"

Elijah raised an eyebrow. "Nothing, I suppose. Why do you ask?"

"Wanna take a walk down memory lane with me?"

He thought for a few moments, Kassandra's earlier words coming back to him. _Live a little. _"Why not?" he said eventually.

Kassandra grinned as she got out of the booth and then paid for her meal. As she walked out of the diner, Elijah at her side, the fry cook called, "Goodbye, Kassandra."

"Later, Bubba," she replied without a thought as Elijah held the door open for her.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Bubba?" he asked curiously.

She shrugged. "I think his real name's Howard or something."

Elijah chuckled again. "You are a strange girl, Kassandra," he told her.

She shrugged again. "I've been called worse."

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: SomebodyWhoCares, Katherine Sparrow, Lady Wesker, and Belinda for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	6. lost

**Chapter five**

_Lost_

_11__th__ century_

"_Kassie, why do you not like anyone?"_

_Peter looked up at her with wide eyes. Kassandra raised an eyebrow at him. "Who said such a thing?" she asked with light amusement._

"_Henrik and I overheard girls in the village talking about you. They were saying how you were mean and bitter and unfriendly and did not like a single person in the village. Why don't you?" he asked her as they walked through the village, no destination in mind._

_She bit her lip. "It is not that I do not like anyone, it is that people have the tendency to be stupid, and stupidity makes me mean and bitter and unfriendly," she said slowly. She really didn't want her brother to think her to be some surly, angry wench, but she didn't care to lie, especially to him._

"_So you just don't like stupid people?" Peter asked, trying his best to keep up with her._

"_Yes, I suppose you can see it that way," she agreed._

"_Do you like me?" he asked._

_Kassandra smirked slightly, eyes twinkling. "Were you not listening? I do not like stupid people."_

"_Hey!" he said and she laughed._

"_I was only joking, little brother. Of course I like you," she said._

"_Do you like mother?" Peter asked, calmed down by her words._

_She nodded. "Mother is alright."_

"_Tatia?"_

"_She is my best and only friend- I like her about half the time."_

_Peter looked around for another person and his eyes settled on a tall, attractive man. "Elijah?"_

_Kassandra's eyebrows furrowed and she looked up. What a random person to ask. "Why Elijah?" _

"_Is he not one of Tatia's suitors?" he asked._

"_Tatia has many suitors," Kassandra said dismissively._

"_Just answer the question, Kassandra!" Peter whined and she sighed._

_Elijah. Kassandra had spoken maybe three words to him her entire life. Yet she knew he was most likely a decent person. She was sure he truly did love Tatia and would be good to her. He was very good with Peter, who had come to look up to him as a big brother because of Henrik. Her hazel eyes found him through the crowd of people and then quickly looked away._

"_There are worse people in this village than Elijah," she muttered finally. That was about the best compliment one could get out of Kassandra, and Elijah never knew he had gotten it._

Elijah and Kassandra walked in silence along the sidewalks of the city. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence, though. For some reason she didn't know, Kassandra was very comfortable in Elijah's presence, and she was a person who tried to limit her contact with other people as much as possible.

"How long have you been in New York?"

Kassandra looked up, startled out of her thoughts. "Huh?" she asked stupidly. Elijah just smiled slightly.

"I asked you how long you've lived in New York," he said patiently.

"Oh." Kassandra's eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she tried to remember. "Well, I've been here for two years- this time. I've lived in New York a bunch of times throughout the years- especially in the twenties. This city's always been my favorite. I always come back here eventually."

"Why?" Elijah asked curiously.

She shrugged slightly. "I don't know, really. I just always find myself back here without really thinking about it. I guess I like the noise, the life. This city is just so _alive _and I feed off of it. I just always come back here, one way or another."

Elijah nodded, looking deep in thought as he walked. "Why are you here?" she asked him, looking up at him.

Elijah looked startled and confused as she brought him out of his thoughts. "Yes?" he asked.

"Why are you here, if you don't mind me asking?" she repeated not-so patiently. Kassandra wasn't a patient person.

"I'm not sure exactly," Elijah told her honestly. "I suppose I've always had a soft spot for this city, and just came here without any real thought."

"You're running from something," she observed with a slightly raised eyebrow. "From what, exactly?"

"I don't _run _Kassandra. I face my problems," Elijah told her.

Elijah didn't seem like the kind of person to run from things, but one thing Kassandra praised herself on was being able to read people. And everything she was able to read about Elijah was screaming at her that he was, in fact, running from something.

"Maybe you're just hiding then," she corrected herself. "Or maybe you're just lost." Her eyes widened and she nodded to herself. "That's it," she murmured. "You're lost."

Elijah sighed. "Maybe a little," he agreed.

Kassandra looked up at him. "There's nothing wrong with being lost, you know," she told him. "Hell, I've been lost the majority of my life. Besides, it's a lot easier to find something if you get lost first."

As a rule, Kassandra generally sucked at cheering people up. She sucked at sympathizing, at making them feel better. She wasn't friendly enough, charming enough. She just wasn't a people person, Kassandra. But she somehow managed to make Elijah feel a little less lost. Enough to get him to open up to the familiar stranger.

"My mother tried to kill me and my siblings two days ago," he announced bluntly.

Kassandra raised her eyebrows. She didn't know what to say to that. She didn't know what one _could _say to that. She did know that Esther had been up to something, though. She just never would have guessed that she would have been trying to kill her children.

"Esther is a total bitch," Kassandra said finally. "I always hated her."

Elijah smiled slightly. "You don't need to say things like that, Kassandra. I am fine without your pity."

"You think I'm pitying you?" she raised an eyebrow up at the original. "Honey, I don't care if you're one of the first of our kind. I don't do pity. I am not capable of pity. I am simply stating that your mother is the queen of the bitches, and trying to murder her children only proves that. If you mistake that as pity, well, that's your bad."

Elijah actually smiled down at her, and it reached his brown eyes. "In some strange way, I find your lack of thought before you speak charming," he told her.

"Well, you'd definitely be the first one to do so," Kassandra said. "Most people just find it offensive."

"Oh, I can see how people would find it that way," Elijah agreed. "I can see how people would find you offensive and rude and obnoxious. But there is definitely a charm to you, Kassandra."

She smiled slightly. "That is the sweetest thing anybody's ever said about me," she said with a slight smirk. It was a little sad because it was true.

"If you were a little less surly, people might find you more charming," Elijah told her as they turned a corner.

She shrugged. "Yeah, you're probably right."

_11__th__ century_

"_Don't touch me!" Kassandra hissed at the drunken village man who grabbed her arm. It was night and they were in a secluded part of the village._

_The man ignored her and pulled her closer to him. His breath reeked of wine, and in general he smelled back. Kassandra beat on his shoulders, his arms, his chest. She tried to do everything she could to get away from him, but he was too strong for her._

_Kassandra pursed her lips stared at the man. He gasped and clutched his head as he fell to his knees. She wasn't supposed to use her powers on innocent humans, but this man was hardly innocent._

"_I told you not to touch me," she muttered as she turned to walk away back towards the celebration. She could really use some wine at that moment._

"_You little bitch." The man grabbed her arm and twisted it painfully. She cried out, her eyes widening._

_Then the man was off of her, thrown into a tree and knocked out by the impact. "Are you alright?" a deep voice, a concerned voice asked her._

_Kassandra scowled up at Elijah. "I did not need your help," she muttered, rubbing her arm. _

"_I am sure you didn't," he replied as she stalked away._

_Yes, there were worse people in the village than Elijah Mikaelson._

"You're breaking into a bar?"

"I'm not 'breaking in.' I have a key," Kassandra replied, fishing her key out of her pocket. "Besides, I think both of us could use some whiskey right now."

"It's seven in the morning," Elijah reminded her, as she unlocked the door to the bar.

"So? It's five o'clock somewhere," Kassandra said holding the door open for him. "After you, Elijah."

He sighed but walked into the bar. He and Kassandra had been talking for an hour, and she was already becoming a bad influence on him. Still, she was right. He really could have used a few shots of bourbon.

Kassandra turned on lights as she walked behind the bar. Then she pulled out a bottle of whiskey and started pouring shots. Elijah threw back a few of those shots, and she did the ones he didn't. By the next hour, both were tipsy if not reasonably drunk.

"Esther was right," Elijah blurted out as Kassandra swung around one of the wooden beams in the bar, the bottle of bourbon in her hand.

"Hmm?" she raised an eyebrow at him and stopped swinging.

"Morality, nobility… those are two things I always associated myself with. I even thought myself to be the best out of all my siblings. But I'm not. I still torture, kill, maim, manipulate, use. I still do terrible things when I need to, when it's necessary. My mother was right. I am no better."

Kassandra was suddenly in front of him. "But, you are," she said slowly, the alcohol fogging up her brain. "You're better than me, anyways. You at least try to be moral, honorable, noble, good. You put in an effort. I don't try. I never try. I am who I am and I don't try to be better than who I am. Besides, just because we do not-so good things at times doesn't make us evil. It doesn't mean we deserve to die."

Elijah looked up at her, at a loss for words. Again, Kassandra had said everything he needed to hear and more. In her own little way, she was charming. She just needed to be with the right person.

It was the alcohol that caused Kassandra to lean into Elijah, her eyes set on his lips. But her drunkenness had nothing to do with the groan that fell from her lips when his phone went off. His eyebrows even furrowed in disappointment as he pulled away from her and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"What is it that you want Kol?" he said a little bitterly as he walked towards the front door.

"_Are you drunk, Elijah? And it isn't even noon yet! What _have _you been doing in New York City?"_

Kassandra stopped listening to Elijah's conversation with his brother when he walked out of the bar. She just sighed and took a swig from her bottle. It probably wasn't a smart thing, thinking about kissing originals, especially when their mother wanted them dead. Yet, Kassandra couldn't find it in herself to regret it.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **sorry about the lack of update. Really, I am.

We have a problem, though. Originally, I did plan to write sex scenes for this story, but FF suddenly decided to crack down on the smut writing, so I'm not going to any longer. I don't want this story to get deleted :( and I was looking forward to writing smut, as pervy as it sounds.

Thank you to: CherrySin, Lady Wesker, Belinda, Katherine Sparrow, and SomebodyWhoCares for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	7. when your mind says no

**Chapter six**

_When your mind says no_

Elijah didn't come back after his phone conversation, so Kassandra just grabbed a bottle of bourbon and locked up the bar. Then she began the ten block walk up to Ruby's apartment. Since vampires never got winded, Kassandra almost always walked. It was a lot cheaper than taking a taxi, and, somehow, her drivers were always the creepy ones that stared down her shirt when they thought she wasn't looking.

It was nine by the time Kassandra walked up the four flights of stairs and knocked on Ruby's apartment door. The witch would be pissed at her for waking her up, but Kassandra needed her company, she needed to talk about what almost happened with Elijah.

Taking a swig of her drink, Kassandra knocked on the door. There was no answer, so the thousand year old vampire began pounding on the door. "Ruby Louise Marcus, open up the damn door!"

The door open to reveal a human man in his mid-twenties. He looked irritated, like he just got out of bed. His blonde hair was a mess, and he was just wearing boxers. It seemed that Ruby had some company.

"Hey, what do you-" the man started to say, but Kassandra cut him off, staring into his brown eyes with her hazel ones.

"Leave, now," she compelled him. Ruby could do much better than him, anyway.

The nameless man's eyes dilated, and when Kassandra looked away, he walked out of the apartment and shut the door behind him. Kassandra watched him leave with dull eyes before a very familiar voice caught her attention.

"Now I don't think that was necessary. A simple 'Ruby, clear out your boy toy' would've worked too."

Kassandra shrugged as she walked into her only friend's very messy living room. Ruby was a slob. There weren't any cleaning spells she could do, because, according to her mother, that would be "abusing her gift given to her by nature." But Ruby was already a disappointment to her mother, with her history of befriending vampires. Abusing her powers wouldn't make her any more disappointed than she already was.

"Yeah, but he wasn't even that cute, Rube," she said dismissively. Then she raised an eyebrow at her friend. "I dropped you off here at one in the morning. When did you get him?"

Ruby shrugged as she pulled a wrinkled blue sweatshirt over her tank top and panties. "Booty call," she said simply, as she walked into her kitchen and poured two cups of coffee.

Kassandra raised both eyebrows. "_You _responded to a booty call?" she asked with disbelief.

Ruby smirked at her. "Honey, I _made _the booty call."

She smirked back at her friend, walking up to her with her bottle in hand. "Care to make that coffee Irish?" she asked, giving the bourbon a shake, the liquid sloshing around in its bottle.

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "It's not even noon, Kass," she reminded her.

Kassandra shrugged. "Your point?"

"My point is that drinking strong alcohol when everyone is eating bacon and pancakes is sad even for a sad day drunk such as yourself," she replied, moving to sit down on a battered green futon in the living room. Kassandra followed her.

"Ruby, I've been buzzed since seven," she replied. "Want to hear a recap of my morning? Woke up from a wonderful nightmare of my brother dying, kept hearing his voice inside my head, ate some of the best pancakes in the world, started drinking with an original vampire, and almost made out with said drunk original. How was yours?"

"Sounds eventful," Ruby replied, before her eyebrows furrowed. "You're having nightmares again, Kassandra? Of Peter?"

Kassandra shook her head, taking a swig from her bottle. "Not important. Everybody has nightmares."

"Shit," her friend cursed, ignoring her words. "No wonder you're turning into a very sad day drunk."

"Drop it, Ruby," Kassandra said in a sharp tone, eyes dangerously alert.

"I can try to find a spell, maybe," Ruby continued. "One that'll make you unable to dream-"

"I said drop it," she snapped. She didn't want to talk about anything relating to Peter. Not with Ruby, not with anybody.

Ruby sighed. She knew little of Kassandra's past, of her human life. She was so guarded, had so many walls up, meant to keep everybody out, it was a miracle that Ruby had managed to remain friends with her that long. Kassandra had lost everybody she had ever dared to love, she had remained alone for so long that she somehow managed to convince herself that she preferred it over company. It was no surprise she was so guarded, but that didn't mean it was a good thing.

"Fine, Kass. I'll drop it," she said exasperatedly. Silence sprouted up, the two friends staring into their drinks. It was broken when Ruby cleared her throat awkwardly and said, "You were saying about almost kissing an original?" Her eyebrows shot up when she fully processed those words. "Bitch, you almost kissed an _original!"_

Instantly, the tension between Kassandra and Ruby disappeared. Kassandra smirked at her friend and took a swig of bourbon. It went down her throat like liquid fire. "He's a very attractive original- you'd approve."

"I need details, Kass! Right now!" Ruby demanded.

Kassandra shrugged. "It was a mistake, Ruby. I can't interact with originals. They're impulsive and dangerous and old," she said slowly, emphasizing each word as she spoke it.

"So are you," Ruby pointed out.

She shot her friend a rueful smile. "Their mother tried to kill them," she said bluntly.

Ruby's eyebrows shot up. "Esther? The original witch?"

Kassandra raised an eyebrow. "How do you know so much about the originals?" she asked curiously.

Ruby shrugged. "The spirits talk, mother's tuned into ghost radio, and my mother talks more than the spirits," she replied.

Kassandra nodded, though she gritted her teeth slightly. She hated the witch spirits that made the rules that the witches that were alive had to follow. And she was pretty sure that the spirits hated her just as much.

She shook her head to clear it. "My point is that I can't go around kissing originals, no matter how attractive they are and how drunk I am," she said. "It's not wise if I have any sense of self-preservation. They do have mommy dearest who wants them dead, after all."

"Out of curiosity, which original are we talking about?" Ruby asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Elijah," Kassandra told her. "He was the man I was talking to last night."

"Ugh, he was so hot Kass!" Ruby exclaimed, earning a chuckle from her friend. "Come on, just make out with him, okay? No! better yet, sleep with him. Kassandra, if you don't sleep with him, I will!"

Kassandra laughed to herself, all the while thinking. Her mind said no, told her to stay away from the originals, or else she'd be dragged into a dramatic mess she most certainly didn't want to be in. But Elijah was so tempting. Plus, she genuinely enjoyed his company, something rare especially since she didn't know him that well.

Kassandra's mind said no, but every other part of her screamed yes.

_**~SYH~**_

Kassandra was working at the bar later that night with Ruby. She kept telling herself that she wasn't waiting for Elijah to show up, but every time the door opened, her head snapped up so fast she would've broken it, had she been human. Ruby kept scoffing, rolling her eyes, and muttering discouraging comments like "can't go kissing around kissing originals, my ass."

It was almost midnight when the door jingled, signaling a customer. This time Kassandra forced her head down. She couldn't keep looking for Elijah, especially if she had to stay away from him.

Kassandra had washed the same glass about ten times when a customer sat down in front of her and cleared his throat. She looked up, locking eyes with familiar oak brown ones. She lost her control for a second, and just stared into the brown depths. It took Elijah clearing his throat a second time for her to come out of her thoughts.

"Oh..." Kassandra looked down at her chipped nails and then back up at the original vampire in front of her. "Hey. What can I get you?"

Elijah smiled slightly and shook his head. "I'm still slightly hungover from this morning, Kassandra," he informed her.

She raised an eyebrow. "If you don't want alcohol, then why are you at a bar?" she asked pointedly.

They both knew the answer, though, and he didn't bother to say it. He was here, at the almost dive bar, for her. Because she was the only person in the city he knew even slightly, and the only one he cared to know. Because Elijah was lost, and he was allowing himself to give into his curiosity of Kassandra whilst being lost. And, if he was honest with himself- which he always tried to be- that curiosity was more of an attraction than a curiosity.

He had more pressing matters at hand, though. Esther was still trying to kill him and his family. Finn was still helping her, still willing to play sacrificial lamb. And him and his brothers and sister were still bound together. _What happens to one happens to all. _He didn't have the time to be lost, to be flirting with the idea that was Kassandra. Yet, here he was, lost and flirting. It was a very un-Elijah of him. Yet everything he had been doing the past day- getting slightly drunk at eight in the morning- was very un-Elijah of him. He was beginning to question what being "Elijah" meant. It used to mean being honest, moral, responsible, honorable. But lately he had been none of those things, definitely not responsible. And, quite honestly, he _liked _it.

"When do you get off work?" he asked her suddenly.

Kassandra raised an eyebrow. "About ten minutes. Why?"

"I'd like to walk you home, if you didn't mind."

They both knew that Kassandra didn't need to be walked home, just like they both knew that Elijah was here for her. And Kassandra knew that it was a bad idea, for him to walk her home, if she wanted any hope of staying away from him. But still, she said yes.

"Sure, I guess I wouldn't mind," she said almost too quickly. A hint of a smile flickered across Elijah's face. Kassandra quickly ducked her head, focusing back on the already immaculate glass.

Ten minutes later, the two were walking silently down the dark street, the only source of light coming from a flickering street lamp. As usual, the two were comfortable without saying any words at all. It was something both appreciated.

"I'm supposed to stay away from you, you know," Kassandra blurted out suddenly, causing Elijah to raise his eyebrows.

"May I ask why?" he asked, a little amused. Kassandra really was strange, and that was a nice way of putting it.

She took a deep breath. "I like being alive," she started. "I like living. I reckon I've gotten good at it over the years as well. Sure, I'm impulsive and sarcastic and I don't know when to keep my mouth shut, but I've managed to survive a thousand years, so I must be doing something right. And all of my instincts are screaming at me to get the hell away from you, because you're an original and your mother wants you dead and I _really _don't want to get involved in anything related to Esther Mikaelson. That's' why I have to stay away from you."

Elijah paused, taking in her speech. "Yet here you are," he said quietly, after a few silent minutes.

"Here I am," she agreed.

Suddenly, Elijah stopped them. Kassandra frowned, eyebrows furrowed, and looked up at the original. And right there, in front of the empty streets and flickering street lamp, Elijah's hands closed over Kassandra's soft face, and he brought his lips down to hers.

When Elijah pulled away, Kassandra was still frozen, processing what had just happened. Then she shrugged slightly, thinking silently _what the hell, _and yanked Elijah down to her level by his tie. Then she captured his lips once more with hers. And this time, Kol didn't call and interrupt them.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **I have some more news on the smut in this story. I've decided that I will write Kassandra/Elijah sex scenes, because I've read smutty stories on here recently, and it seems like, at least, most of my readers were looking forward to some sexy Elijah time. ;) And those readers won't have to wait too long, hint, hint.

Thank you to: LentilGirl, chloevamp, SomebodyWhoCares, CherrySin, Lady Wesker, and Katherine Sparrow. For reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	8. jump your bones

**WARNING: this chapter contains smut. If you're not comfortable reading it- well, you shouldn't be reading this story in the first place- then you should skip over it.**

**This is your warning. I don't think I'll do warnings for smut later in the story.**

**Chapter seven**

_Jump your bones_

"So, you guys just made out, that's it?"

Kassandra nodded. "Yeah, that's it," she said. Ruby looked disappointed. "Got a problem with that?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ruby nodded as they walked through aisle three of the local supermarket. "I can't believe you didn't sleep with him," she said,

Kassandra looked at her friend in disbelief. "Ruby, we were in the middle of the sidewalk. In public!" she exclaimed.

Ruby scoffed. "Excuses! If it had been me, I would've taken full advantage of the moment and taken all of his clothes off."

Kassandra rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You are such a slut," she muttered, grabbing a bag of chips and tossing it into her basket.

Ruby just smirked back and winked. "I prefer the term 'overly friendly," she teased, before frowning. "You used to be just as slutty as me, you know."

Kassandra sighed. "I know. I haven't had sex in months. I think I might explode from horniness. Is that possible?"

"I'm not sure, but it's just another reason to do Elijah. You, my friend, need to get laid. And I'm pretty sure he does too," she said boldly, and Kassandra sighed.

"Can we just drop this, Ruby? I'm not going to throw myself at him," Kassandra said as they walked to the checkout line.

"Fine. I'll let it drop- for now," Ruby said, before smirking. "Are you going to see him any time soon?"

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I haven't seen him since we kissed, let alone held an actual conversation with him."

"Just promise me one thing, Kass," Ruby said as she started unloading her groceries onto the conveyor belt.

"What?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"If you get the chance to sleep with Elijah, ever, you won't toss it to the side, she said completely serious.

Kassandra rolled her eyes. Ruby was so sex crazed. Still, she couldn't help but let her friends, solemnly serious attitude get to her as she answered.

"I promise."

_**~SYH~**_

Kassandra took a deep breath before raising her left hand and knocking on the door in front of her. she clutched a bottle of wine in her right hand.

The door opened and there stood Elijah. He frowned when he saw her. He looked like a business man who had just come home from work. She could see his jacket slung over a chair in his apartment, his shirt was unbuttoned slightly, and he wasn't wearing his tie.

"Kassandra?" he said, clearly confused.

She smiled slightly, raising her wine bottle. "I brought wine. Wanna let me in?" she asked.

His brown eyes glinted with amusement. But Elijah still looked confused. "How did you know where I live?" he asked.

Kassandra shrugged. "I have connections," she said vaguely with a cryptic smirk.

She barely noticed his eyes widen slightly in alarm, and she rolled hers. "Don't flatter yourself, Elijah," she said. "I have better things to do all day then to stalk you. Now, are you going to invite me in this century?"

Elijah stepped to the side and let Kassandra in. she walked in, taking in Elijah's apartment. It looked like she just stepped into a home and garden magazine. Everything was in perfect condition, not a pillow out of place. But it lacked that homey feel that Kassandra hadn't had in a thousand years.

"Not that I don't enjoy your company, but why are you here?" Elijah asked her as he shut the door.

Kassandra shrugged. "I'm not sure, really…" she trailed off, before looking at him. "Do you have a bottle opener?" she asked him, swiftly changing subjects.

He nodded and gestured towards the kitchen. After digging around for a minute, Kassandra found the bottle opener and popped the bottle open. She filled two glasses with wine and returned to Elijah.

"Here you go," she said, handing him a glass. He nodded in thanks, and then they both silently drank their drinks.

Kassandra sat down on the couch, eyeing Elijah when she thought he wasn't looking. She kept thinking about what Ruby had said, about jumping his bones if she ever got the chance. Whenever Kassandra closed her eyes, she could still feel his lips on hers. Instead of dreaming about Peter for the past few days, Kassandra dreamed about her kiss with Elijah. And in her dreams, the kissing always led to more.

But, no. Kassandra had more control than that. And Elijah definitely had more control than that. She didn't come here to sleep with Elijah. She came here because she genuinely enjoyed his company, and she wanted a drinking buddy. She wasn't sex crazed like Ruby. No, not at all.

But, was it just her, or could the sexual tension in the air be cut with a butter knife?

It was probably just her.

Usually, Kassandra had to use her self-control not to down her drink as soon as she got it. But today, what little self-control she had was being used to not jump Elijah and rip his clothes off. So as soon as she sat down, Kassandra tossed her wine back and stood straight back up.

_You can do this, _she thought as she walked back into the kitchen where the wine was. _You're not an animal, Kassandra. _

She set the bottle back down and turned around to see Elijah. Kassandra jumped slightly, not expecting him to be there. He moved silently towards her, and Kassandra backed into the counter. Still, Elijah moved towards her until she could feel his breath on her face.

Kassandra wasn't one to be flustered, but she couldn't breathe when Elijah was that close to her. She couldn't do much, really, except stare up at him, eyes wide, at a loss for words. For a second- one glorious, terrifying second- she thought he was going to kiss her again. Then he reached behind her and grabbed the wine bottle, and backed away from her as if nothing had happened.

Kassandra couldn't help but growl at him under her breath. he was teasing her! She could practically see his amused little smirk under her eyelids.

If anything, it just made her want him more. It made her want him so much, she could barely stand it.

God, she hated Elijah. She hated him so much.

Kassandra gritted her teeth and went to drink her wine, only to find it empty. She sighed and ran a hand over her face. At that point, alcohol would be the only thing that would save Elijah's suit from being ripped off his body. She took a deep breath and then marched back into the living room, where Elijah was pouring himself a glass of wine.

She took it from his hand and emptied the rest into her glass. She smirked at him when he looked up at her with curiosity in his brown eyes. Then she raised her glass mockingly at him and sat down on the couch, as far away from him as she could get, in one big huff. She barely saw Elijah smirk slightly out of the corner of her eye.

He knew that he was getting to her. And he loved that he was.

Glaring at Elijah, Kassandra tossed back her wine, gulped it down, and turned to face the original. "You know-" she started to say angrily, but was cut off.

By Elijah's lips.

Her eyes widened slightly as Elijah kissed her hard, almost bruising her lips. It was almost as if he had been fighting the same urges as she had been, he was just better at hiding it. Ironically, almost, Kassandra had lasted longer than he had. But now, she was giving in and holding nothing back.

It was a fight for control between Elijah and Kassandra. She pinned him against the couch, he pinned her against the wall. Their lips never broke during their fight. They kissed each other hungrily, as if they would never kiss another person ever again.

Kassandra took them to the floor, where she ripped open Elijah's shirt, ripping the fabric slightly. The two weren't aware of the mess they were making. The once immaculate living room was now destroyed. Furniture was pushed around, coffee tables being broken as they smashed against the wall. Kassandra and Elijah were just too caught up in each other.

When Elijah tore Kassandra's shirt off- revealing her black, lacy bra- she gasped slightly in surprise. That gave Elijah the opening he needed. He flipped them over and then stood up so that he was carrying Kassandra. Her legs wrapped around his waist, one arm going around his neck and the other brushing her blonde hair out of her face, so that she could kiss him.

"Bedroom," she mumbled against his lips. "Bedroom. Now."

He didn't need to be told twice. The two stumbled down the hall, colliding with walls every now and then. As soon as they reached Elijah's room, he tossed Kassandra down onto the bed. Their lips finally parted, and both gasped for air. Elijah pulled off his open shirt and tossed it onto the ground. Kassandra sat up, her blonde hair falling around her. Her breasts were heaving, as she reached for Elijah, desperate to connect their lips once more.

Elijah didn't stop to think that what he was about to do was a bad thing. He didn't stop to think about the repercussions, like he always did. He just wanted Kassandra. He wanted her so fucking badly, he was sure he would combust if he didn't get her soon enough.

Kassandra got on her knees and kissed him, wrapping her arms- her entire body- around him. Elijah hastily yanked down her jeans, and she kicked them off and onto the floor. Her shoes went with them.

Kassandra smirked seductively, looking so decadent in only black lace that hid just enough to be teasing. He kissed down her neck, to her shoulder, stopping at her collar bone. Then he Elijah gently pushed her back onto the bed.

Elijah unzipped his pants, and stepped out of them. Then he joined Kassandra on his bed, and his lips met hers once again. There was little space between their bodies, but they liked it that way.

Elijah's hand ran over Kassandra's stomach, edging down near her lacy black panties. Her breath caught in her throat as his hand ran over her center. Her hips bucked when his finger ran over her clit, but he pulled away.

Kassandra growled at him for leaving her hanging. Elijah just smiled patiently at her, before reaching behind her back and unhooking her bra. It fell off of her, and she threw it on the floor.

Kassandra shivered as Elijah ran a thumb over one of her nipples, just appreciating how beautiful her body was. He looked back up at her, and their lips met again in a quick kiss.

Just as Kassandra was pulling her lips away from him, Elijah quickly ripped off her underwear and shoved two fingers into her. She hissed at the contact, her back arching up off of the bed. His thumb brushed over her clit, and she growled at him, eyes darkened with lust. She was done with his teasing.

Faster than a human could blink, Kassandra pinned Elijah against the bed, pulled off his underwear, and then kissed him again. This time Elijah growled at her. Kassandra didn't even have time to access how big he was, before he flipped them over again and rammed into her.

"Fuck!" she cried out, nails digging into his shoulders. Elijah gripped Kassandra's hips and began moving at a speed no human could ever reach. Kassandra bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming, as she bucked her hips in time with his movements.

He was deep inside of her, and with each thrust he only went deeper. Kassandra tried her best to keep up with him, as she wrapped one leg around his waist, trying her hardest to get Elijah to go deeper.

Elijah kissed Kassandra's neck as he slid in and out of her. Her fingers ran through his hair, mussing it up, before he hit her sweet spot and she jerked in surprise. Elijah slowed his movements, smirked when he realized what had happened, and angled his hips to hit the exact same spot again and again and again. Kassandra bit her lip so hard, she drew blood. Her body tightened around Elijah, gripping him tightly. Finally, she couldn't keep it in any longer.

"Elijah!" she screamed his name as she came. Her back arched, her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she just screamed out until her throat was sore and the neighbors thought somebody was being murdered in that apartment.

With a few more thrusts, Elijah came into Kassandra. Then the two collapsed against the bed, Elijah on top of Kassandra. He rolled off of her, and the two just laid there, breathing heavily.

The other didn't know how much they had needed that.

Elijah looked at Kassandra as she pushed her blonde hair out of her eyes. She looked back at him, and then, without another word, Kassandra got on top of Elijah, their lips met again, and they went for round two.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **I hope my smut wasn't that bad. It was my first sex scene I had ever written, so be kind if you're going to criticize it. I know that Kass and Elijah didn't get that kinky, and how kinky they'll get in the future depends on how kinky my readers are and how kinky I'm willing to get.

Thank you to: xxdarkvampireangelxx, SomebodyWhoCares, CherrySin, Lady Wesker, DTaylor201989, Katherine Sparrow, and chloevamp for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)

P.S, let's all pray that FF doesn't take my story down for having smut!


	9. the lover in the city

**Chapter eight**

_The lover in the city_

Sunlight hit Kassandra's face, and her face crunched up. Groaning, she covered her face with her pillow, but it was too late, she was already awake. She sighed but sat up, pulling the bed sheet up with her to cover her naked body.

Kassandra pushed her blonde hair out of her face, then looked over to the other side of the bed, where she expected Elijah to be. Only, it was empty. She frowned. She didn't expect Elijah to be the kind of person to sneak out in the middle of the night, especially since this was his apartment. Then she saw the piece of paper, a creamy color, with her name written on the front in fancy calligraphy. She opened it and read the short note inside.

_Kassandra,_

_I'm sorry if I am not there when you awake. I have some family business to attend to, but I will be back shortly. Please feel free to make yourself at home if you choose to wait for me. If not, we shall see each other later._

_Elijah_

Kassandra folded the letter into fourths, then slipped out of bed. She decided that she would wait for him. Partly because she wanted to do what they did last night over and over and over again, and partly because she had nowhere else to go.

She grabbed Elijah's shirt from where it was on the ground and put it on. It was ripped slightly and wrinkly, for it had spent the night on the floor, but was in decent condition. She tucked Elijah's note into the shirt pocket and ran her hands through her hair before walking out of the bedroom. She needed coffee. And maybe, if she was lucky, she could find her purse somewhere and call Ruby before Elijah came back. Then she would begin to track down her clothes.

She walked into the kitchen to find a fresh pot of coffee already waiting for her. Kassandra got herself a cup and then leaned against the counter, drinking it. Suddenly, she heard a noise come from the living room, footsteps and the sounds of somebody kicking things aside.

"Elijah?" she called, standing up straight. Then she smirked slightly. "You know, it's bad manners to leave a woman naked in bed all by her lonesome."

She walked towards the living room, still holding her coffee. The living room was a mess. She hadn't even known that they were knocking furniture over last night. There, in the midst of broken end tables and turned over couches, was a man, his back facing her.

"Well, my brother has always been a tad rude."

Kassandra's eyes widened as the man turned around, revealing that he wasn't Elijah. He looked like him, though. Kassandra knew exactly who he was.

Kol.

She took two steps back automatically, crossing her arms over her chest. Kol smirked at her, though she could see clear shock in his eyes. "Well, well, what _has _my brother been up to?" he mused, his eyes running up and down Kassandra.

She fidgeted, uncomfortable. She had to get out of there, before Kol recognized her. "You two really did make a mess, I had no idea Elijah had it in him," Kol continued.

Then he looked at Kassandra, really looked at her. His eyebrows furrowed and he frowned. "Who are you? Do I know you from somewhere?"

In a blur, Kassandra was gone. She blurred out of the apartment, leaving her purse and clothes inside. She was only wearing Elijah's shirt, but she didn't stop to grab hers. She had to get out of there, and so she did.

Kol sighed. Of course Elijah would attract the weird ones.

_**~SYH~**_

Rebekah sighed as she checked the caller ID of her ringing phone, before answering it. "What do you want, Kol?" she asked irritably, taking a sip from the drink in her hand.

"_Elijah has a lover in the city."_

Rebekah coughed, spitting out the water in her mouth. _"What?" _She asked, eyes wide. "What on _earth _are you talking about, Kol?"

"_Elijah-our brother- has a lover in New York City," _Kol repeated quite calmly.

"Hold on," Rebekah said, eyes wide. She pulled her phone away from her ear and began marching down the hallway. "_Nik! _You need to hear this!"

"What, Rebekah?" he was in the living room, painting something with dark, thick paints. "I'm busy right now."

"_Elijah _has a _lover _in New York City," she said in disbelief, putting Kol on speaker phone.

Klaus' nose wrinkled. "I never want to hear 'Elijah' and 'lover' in the same sentence ever again," he said with disgust.

Rebekah looked at her brother, clearly disappointed at his lack of reaction. "Did you not hear me, Nik? Elijah has a _lover. _Elijah, our Elijah. The moral, responsible, honorable brother has a _lover _for God's sake!" she exclaimed.

Klaus rolled his eyes. "This is Elijah we're talking about, sister. The day he has the lover is the day hell freezes over."

"_Well, it must be chilly down there, Nik, because I stopped by Elijah's apartment this morning, and there was a very sexy woman there wearing only his shirt. Now, if he didn't sleep with her, I'm disowning him," _Kol said.

Klaus frowned. "I don't believe it," he murmured to himself, setting his paintbrush down.

"_Believe it, brother. Our Elijah is growing up," _Kol said with a smirk that Rebekah and Klaus couldn't see.

"I can't believe he's off sleeping with trollops when we're still connected," Rebekah grumbled. "Esther and Finn are still out there, and he's sleeping with whores!"

"I wonder if he paid her," Klaus mused.

"_That's not all," _Kol said. _"I called him a few days ago at seven in the morning, and he was _drunk."

This seemed to shock Rebekah and Klaus almost as much as the news of Elijah's lover. "What?" Rebekah exclaimed. "But Elijah's _never _drunk, let alone in the morning!"

"Being daggered must have messed with his head," Klaus said, shaking his head.

"Or given him an entire personality makeover," Rebekah said, still completely confused.

"_I like this new Elijah," _Kol stated. _"He's entertaining. He's drunk in the mornings and likes having sex with attractive women. He is someone I can be friends with."_

"Well, I don't like it," Rebekah snapped. "This is not the time for Elijah to go running off to New York and having _fun."_

"_Relax, Bekah. Just because-"_

"Enough, you two," Klaus said, before Kol could insult Rebekah, and they would get into a fight over the phone. "Rebekah's right."

Rebekah smirked at the phone, and Kol could be heard sighing. He hated it when Rebekah was right.

"Elijah will have to get his priorities straight. We still have to find a witch to break the spell Esther cast on all of us. And then we have to find her and find a way to kill her, so that she will stop trying to kill us," he said, turning back to his painting.

"Exactly," Rebekah said, though her smugness had left at the mention of killing their mother.

"But, until then, why not let Elijah have his lover in the city? I quite like this new Elijah. He's entertaining," Klaus said with a slight smirk. "That means no intervention for our big brother, Rebekah."

"But-" Rebekah started to say, getting cut off by Kol.

"_I told you so, Bekah!" _he said smugly.

"_Shut up, Kol!" _she growled, throwing her phone against the wall. It smashed into pieces.

Klaus chuckled as Rebekah marched away, mumbling about Elijah's new personality. Then he returned his attention back to his painting, like the last three minutes hadn't happened.

_**~SYH~**_

Kassandra pounded on Ruby's front door, tugging on her shirt. Ruby's creepy old neighbor downstairs- Mr. Walsh- had given her creepy looks in the elevator. She looked like she had been doing the walk of shame- which she had been.

"_What the hell, Kass? It's too early for this shit!"_

The door opened to reveal Ruby in short shorts and a tank top, her black hair pulled up on top of her head. Her eyes widened at the sight of Kassandra's outfit, as she pushed her way past the witch and plopped down on the battered futon in her living room.

"How'd you it was me?" she asked curiously as Ruby sat down across from her.

She shrugged. "You're my only friend," she replied simply.

It sounded sad, but it was the truth. It was sort of like with Tatia, all those years ago. They were only friends because they had no one else. Only this time, Kassandra genuinely liked Ruby.

"Now, would you like to explain your outfit?" Ruby said, giving her shirt a pointed look.

Kassandra looked down at her clothes. "Oh, yeah. Right. I'm gonna need to borrow some clothes," she said.

"Fine, just tell me why you're basically naked!" Ruby exclaimed, impatient.

"Oh," Kassandra said, as if she had forgotten all about what had happened. "Yeah, Elijah and I had sex last night, and then his brother Kol showed up this morning and I had to make a quick escape, so I left my clothes at his place."

"_You did what?"_

Ruby practically jumped on top of Kassandra. The vampire groaned. "Get off of me, you goof," she said pushing the witch off of her.

"Details, bitch. I need details!" she exclaimed.

"Can I tell you tonight, at work? I just really wanna go home and take a bath, but I need clothes to do that," Kassandra said.

"Do you wanna take one with Elijah? You won't need clothes for that." Ruby smirked and wagged her eyebrows.

Kassandra rolled her eyes and stood up. "I'm just going to go raid your closet, okay Rube?"

"Kass?" Ruby called suddenly, causing her to stop walking.

"Yeah?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Was it any good?" she asked with curiosity.

_Fuck yes. It was fucking amazing, _she thought. But then she just shrugged. "Okay. I've had worse sex in my life."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Whatever, Kass. You know he rocked your world with his original vampire sex god moves."

"Yeah, I know," she replied casually, before walking out of the room.

_**~SYH~**_

Kassandra unlocked her apartment door, wearing a pair of Ruby's jeans, her tank top, and then Elijah's shirt over it. She thought that she would keep it- she liked wearing it.

The instant Kassandra stepped into the apartment, she felt like something was off. She felt like… there was something or someone in her apartment. Frowning, she took careful steps into her apartment, shutting the door behind her. She tossed her keys on the table next to the door, her eyes scanning for any threat.

As soon as Kassandra walked into her living room, she saw the threat. She stopped walking, and stiffened at the people in her apartment.

"Kassandra," Esther said calmly, Finn standing behind her, silent but ready to protect his mother if necessary. "I need your help."

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: DTaylor201989, Lady Wesker, SomebodyWhoCares, CherrySin, Katherine Sparrow, and Samantha meyers for reviewing!

~Abby :)


	10. help

**Chapter nine**

_Help _

"Esther," Kassandra said cautiously, her eyes flickering between Finn and his mother. She knew that Finn was practically Esther's bodyguard, but that she didn't really need his protection. Both would be more than capable of killing her if they needed to do so. "Nice of you to just let yourself in."

"I need your help, Kassandra," she repeated, ignoring her words. "Can you help me?"

"Depends, Esther, what do you need?" she asked, keeping her distance from them.

She knew what she needed, though. Esther was still trying to kill her children. For some reason, Finn was okay with that. He was helping his mother kill him and his siblings. They had failed the first time, and now Esther needed some of Gabriella's old things.

Even if Kassandra hadn't just slept with Elijah, even if she hadn't grown to like him and genuinely didn't want him to die, she wouldn't have helped Esther. She hated Esther, always had. Besides, the odds were more in her favor of dying if she went against the originals.

Still, she couldn't exactly say that to Esther right then and there, especially with Finn looking like he was preparing himself to rip out her heart. Then her odds of dying would be increased to a hundred. Kassandra had to be very careful of what her next words were, of how she got herself out of this. But she wasn't a very careful person to begin with.

Esther looked like she was choosing her words carefully as well. Kassandra knew right then that the only thing that kept Esther from having Finn kill her was the fact that she needed Gabriella's spell book, and only Kassandra would know where that was.

"I need your mother's Grimoire, Kassandra," Esther said after a few beats of silence.

"Yeah, I figured that, but _why?" _she asked, daring Esther to tell her the truth with her eyes.

"Why do you need my help?" she continued, taunting the old, powerful witch almost. "What did you do, Esther?"

Finn frowned suddenly at her, speaking for the first time. "Why do you smell like Elijah?" he asked her, taking a step towards Kassandra.

Her eyes widened and she took a deep breath. "I don't know you're talking about," she lied, taking three steps back.

"She's been around Elijah?" Esther demanded of her son.

"More than just been around him, I'd say," Finn replied, as Kassandra debated making a run for it. "And recently, too."

Esther stared hard at Kassandra. She knew what Kassandra and Elijah had been up to, Kassandra just knew it. And the funny thing was that, even though she was planning to kill all of her children, Kassandra could still see the disapproval on the wicked witch's face. She was trying to kill Elijah, and she still didn't think that Kassandra was good enough for her son.

"She is not going to help us, mother," Finn told Esther. "We need to leave."

"But-" Esther tried to say, but Finn cut her off.

"Now, mother. We cannot risk Elijah finding out that we're here," he said. Then he turned to face Kassandra, who was just about to run.

Finn grabbed her arms, not allowing her to leave. Then he looked into her eyes, his pupils dilating. "You will forget that we were ever here," he compelled her.

"I'll forget you were ever here," Kassandra repeated against her will. She blinked, and they were gone.

Her eyebrows furrowed. What had just happened? She had walked into her apartment and… Sh had been doing something. She just couldn't remember. Why couldn't she remember? Kassandra tried her hardest to remember, and then gasped as she clutched her head in pain. It hurt, to try to remember.

What had happened to her?

_**~SYH~**_

"_Elijah. I was sure that you would be too busy to answer your phone."_

Elijah frowned as he pressed number three in the elevator, and the doors closed. "What are you talking about, Kol?"

He could practically hear his brother smirk. _"Oh, what with the identity crisis you're having right now and all. It really must be time consuming, changing your entire personality in the course of three days."_

Elijah frowned. He was confused. "I still don't know what you're talking about."

"_I stopped by your apartment this morning. You weren't there, a real shame. You missed the half-naked woman. She was very sexy, as well."_

He stiffened. Kassandra. Kol had run into Kassandra. Just thinking about her made him flash back to the picture of her completely naked on his bed. He could hear her moaning out his name, and he wanted her so much at that moment. He was in an elevator for Christ sake.

Was this what it was like to be Kol? Elijah shuddered at the thought. He was _not _Kol. He was the anti-Kol. They looked alike the most out of all their siblings, but their personalities were polar opposite. He was not turning into Kol.

"I wouldn't know what you're talking about," he said finally, as the elevator doors opened.

"_Oh, come _on, _brother! Don't play dumb with me! New York has changed you! You're out drinking during the day and shagging random women at night! You're turning into me!" _Kol exclaimed. _"Rebekah wants to have an intervention. I, on the other hand, am enjoying this new you. As long as it isn't permanent. I mean, if you're not going to be responsible and a stick in the mud, who is? Who am I going to make fun of?"_

"Can we move on to other more important topics?" he said, walking down the hallway to his apartment. He had been hoping that Kassandra would still be waiting for him when he returned, but he knew that she fled as soon as she met Kol. He knew Kassandra enough to know that his family intimidated her. And when she was intimidated, she fled.

"_Now, what could be more important than your day drinking and shagging of strangers?" _Kol said dryly, and Elijah gritted his teeth. He drank _once _with Kassandra during the day, and his brother was never going to let him live it down. And Kassandra wasn't a stranger, not anymore.

"Esther and Finn are in New York City," he replied. "That would be more important."

This affected Kol, he could tell. Though his brother tried to pretend otherwise, there was an edge in his voice the next time he spoke. _"And?" _he replied. _"I would appreciate details, Elijah."_

"I received a call this morning, saying that they were here. But when I went looking for them, I couldn't find any trail that would lead me to them. They're being careful. They're hiding from me. Esther knows-"

"_That the next time you see her will be the time you rip her heart out,"_ Kol finished. _"I'm already on my way back to Mystic Falls. Do you need me to come back?"_

"No, I don't think that will be necessary," Elijah said, as he walked into his apartment. "I'll let you three know if I manage to track Esther and Finn down."

"_Will you manage to fit time to search in between your drinking and shagging?" _Kol teased, already returning back to his normal self.

Elijah sighed. His younger brother gave him a headache. "Goodbye, Kol," he said firmly.

"_Do behave yourself, Elijah. I would hate to have you bring shame to the Mikaelson name," _Kol said sarcastically.

Elijah hung up on his brother before his headache turned into a migraine.

_**~SYH~**_

Kassandra took a deep breath and ran a hand over her face. Something was wrong. Her memory had been tampered with, she just knew it. There was an unexplained period of time lost to her, and she couldn't remember it. She contributed knowing this to being a witch in her human life.

What could cause her brief loss of memory? Compulsion would be the obvious choice, but a spell could also be responsible. Kassandra paced her bedroom, thinking about all of the options.

The only people who could compel her would be an original. Elijah wouldn't dare. Besides, what would be his purpose? Kol, maybe. The only thing that could give her answers would be what went on during the five minute gap of memory that was taken from her. But that was lost forever.

Or was it?

Kassandra needed help. She knew that. But, usually, the only person she ever turned to help for was herself. But now Kassandra had Ruby. Ruby could cast a spell or two, maybe, to try and figure out what had happened.

But Kassandra knew who she really wanted to call. And, during her frantic state, she allowed herself to do so.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself down, Kassandra put her blonde hair in a ponytail and went to get her cellphone, only to remember that she had left all of her things at Elijah's. So she had to use her landline instead. She never used her landline. Ever. Hell, she only used her cellphone to text Ruby and play Temple Run.

After two rings, he answered. _"Hello?"_

"Elijah," she said, sitting down on her bed.

"_Kassandra." _There was a beat of silence between them, not necessarily awkward, but it wasn't that comfortable either. It was _we had hot, wild sex last night _silence, in which neither knew what to say, whether or not to reference what had happened between them last night. Then Elijah cleared his throat. _"What do you need?"_

"Can- can you come over? Something happened, and I think you can help me figure out what," Kassandra said.

"_Of course," _he said easily.

Kassandra smirked suddenly. "Oh, and Elijah?" she said innocently.

"_Yes, Kassandra?"_

"Would you mind bringing my things with you? I was rather fond of that bra."

_**~SYH~**_

"What happened?" Elijah asked as soon as the door opened.

"I'm not sure," Kassandra replied, taking her things from Elijah and setting them down on a random table.

"What do you mean?" Elijah asked, frowning.

"I mean there's a gap in my memory somehow. I remember leaving your apartment. I remember going to Ruby's. I remember walking towards my apartment. And then I was standing in the middle of my living room, and it just felt as though something had happened. It felt like time had jumped," she tried her best to explain.

Elijah frowned as Kassandra led him into her living room. "It sounds like-" he stopped suddenly, stiffening.

"What?" she asked, frowning up at him.

"Finn," he said. "And Esther. It smells like them in your living room."

Kassandra's frowned deepened. "I don't remember them," she said.

"Of course you don't. My brother compelled you to forget." Elijah grabbed her suddenly, tilting her chin upwards so that their eyes met. _"Remember," _he compelled her, eyes dilating.

Kassandra blinked and her memory came back to her. She narrowed her eyes. How dare Finn compel her? It made Kassandra want to tear his heart out.

"Can you explain now, what my- Esther and Finn were doing here?" Elijah asked patiently.

Kassandra nodded and ran a hand over her face. "Your mother wanted me to help her kill you."

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: Guest, Lady Wesker, Hachikoo, and SomebodyWhoCares for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	11. the Grimoire

**Chapter ten**

_The Grimoire _

"Why would Esther want your help to kill my family?" Elijah asked, his tone almost business-like, like his mother hadn't just tried to recruit the woman he had slept with to kill him and his family.

"Because she needs something from me, something of my mother's. Her Grimoire. That's why she invited me to that ball, to get that Grimoire from me, along with some herbs," Kassandra explained, already thinking of every painful method she knew of how to kill someone. She hated Esther before, but now she wanted her dead.

Elijah's eyes widened ever so slightly when he realized why his mother wanted that spell book. There was a spell in there, a spell Gabriella must've written, that would kill him and his siblings. And Esther wanted it.

"Where is it?" Elijah all but demanded from Kassandra. "Where is the Grimoire?"

She shrugged, but her eyebrows rose slightly. "I don't know. I don't even know if I still have it, let alone if it hasn't crumbled to dust at this point." Then it clicked in her head. "My mother wrote a spell that would kill you, didn't she?"

Elijah didn't answer her question. His face conveyed no expression, no hint of feeling. He was completely stoic as he said, "Where you planning to help her?"

Kassandra's nose wrinkled. "God, no. I loathe Esther, always have. And I don't know what you do, but I don't help people I despise." Then her eyes widened as she realized that he was accusing her. "Wait, do you really think that low of me? That I would help murder the same man I slept with not even ten hours earlier? Because even I wouldn't sink that low. I at least wait 48 hours before I start planning their deaths."

She meant it as a joke, to lighten the mood, but Elijah wasn't laughing. She sighed; a little offended that he thought she'd do that. Kassandra didn't want Elijah dead, and she didn't really care either way if his siblings were alive or not. They hadn't done anything to her, so she didn't necessarily wish them dead. Except for Finn. She wanted his liver on a stick for messing with her memory.

"That's why Finn compelled me, you know," she said quietly. "Because he could smell you on me, and knew that I wouldn't help them. So he compelled me so that I wouldn't go blabbering to you that they were in town."

Kassandra shook her head. "Man, you have more trust issues than even I do," she muttered.

"Well, I wouldn't say that much," Elijah said. "I'm just a very cautious man. There's nothing wrong in being careful with whom you trust."

"I'm not telling you to trust me," Kassandra said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Hell, I don't even trust myself half of the time. I'm just telling you to trust that I'm not plotting your death. Especially not with your mother."

"I think I can do that," he said. "And you can trust that I won't kill you." But they both knew that she didn't completely trust him not to do that.

Kassandra didn't trust anybody completely. Not a single person. Not even herself. She trusted Ruby the most, she trusted Elijah to a point, but she barely trusted herself. Kassandra had a thousand years' worth of trust issues that she would never be able to get completely over.

"I'll make you a deal," she said suddenly, smirking slightly. "I'll tell you everything I know about my mother's Grimoire if you tell me everything about Esther's plot to kill you. Because I know you haven't told me everything there is to tell."

She was right, he hadn't. And Kassandra had been a witch. Granted, it had been over a thousand years ago since she had last cast a spell, but she might remember something, anything that could help him. Plus, he liked talking to her. For such an opinionated person, she was very good at not judging him. Mostly because she had no right to judge anybody, not after the things she had done in her very long life.

"It's a deal."

_**~SYH~**_

"Your mother tied you and your siblings together?" Kassandra asked, half-hanging off of her couch, her long blonde hair splayed across the carpet.

Elijah nodded, noting absentmindedly at how fidgety Kassandra was. She was always moving, always twisting and turning, like she could never get comfortable. "Do you know anything about it? Do you know how to undo it?"

She sighed, rubbing her temples. "I've never seen it happen, but I remember reading a few spells before, of how to do it. I know that it's all about blood. It's your blood that connects you and your siblings, so it's your blood that will disconnect you."

Elijah nodded. "I can talk to Ruby. She'll know more about it. I might be able to convince her to help you too, but no promises," she continued.

"Alright," he said. "Now it's your turn to explain about your mother's Grimoire."

Kassandra sighed again. "I have no idea where it is. Probably in a storage compartment somewhere across the country. I'm a hoarder, so if it still exists, I probably still have it."

She frowned, eyebrows furrowing. She wished she could remember something, anything about her mother writing a spell. She had a nagging feeling in her head, and she tried her hardest to remember. But she couldn't.

Suddenly, Kassandra's eyes widened as she flashbacked to one of the days before vampires terrorized her village.

"_Mother, what are you doing?"_

_Gabriella was concentrating, eyebrows furrowed as she stared at the thick Grimoire that was made out of leather. Kassandra frowned at her._

"_Nothing, Kassandra. Just… preparing for the worst," she replied, not bothering to look at her daughter._

"_What do you mean?" she asked, confused. _

"_I am providing everyone with a way out, darling. I am giving everyone a way to save themselves when Esther's mistake gets out of control."_

_Kassandra was getting even more confused. "Mother, what did Esther do-"_

"_Run along, Kassandra," Gabriella said suddenly, looking up at her daughter. "I am doing nothing that concerns you. Go now, child."_

"My mother created a spell that would kill vampires," she said suddenly, looking up at Elijah. "She knew that Esther planned to turn you and your siblings into vampires, so she made her spell to protect everyone- to kill you."

Elijah was solemn. "And you don't remember where you put it?"

She shook her head. "I'll find it though, alright? I'm a pack rat. It has to be somewhere," she tried to assure him as she sat up.

"I'm more worried about what Esther is willing to do to get that spell," he said, looking at her. "She'll kill you without a second thought, you know."

"Yeah, I know," she said, standing up. "And I'm flattered that you care, Elijah, but don't worry about me. Worry about yourself and your family. I've lived a thousand years, and I plan to live a thousand more."

Kassandra went to walk into the kitchen to get alcohol, when Elijah grabbed her arm, his fingers gripping her wrist. He turned her around to face him. Her eyebrows were furrowed in confusion, and she opened her mouth to ask what he was doing, but then his lips met his, smothering any questions away.

Kassandra closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Elijah's neck, before her fingers trailed down his chest and began popping shirt buttons open. He helped her unbutton his shirt, before shrugging it off and dropping it on the floor.

He kissed Kassandra's neck as his fingers slid under her sweatshirt, running over the skin there. Then Elijah pulled her sweatshirt off for her, expecting to find another lacy bra underneath. But all he saw was Kassandra's breasts. She smirked at his raised eyebrows and brought his lips back to hers.

They fell onto the couch, Elijah on top of Kassandra. Her fingers ran through his hair as his fingers edged towards the clasp of her jeans. He managed to unzip her jeans before she flipped them over.

Kassandra's bare chest was pressed against his. She pulled her lips away from his, as her hands went down to the zipper of his pants. She was going to be in control this time; she was going to be sure of that.

Elijah kissed her neck, brushing her hair away from her face as she managed to get his pants off of him. Kassandra took her sweet time slowly pulling her jeans down. She saw something feral flash in Elijah's eyes as he watched her. She just smirked back at him. She was in control, and she would tease him if she wanted to.

After kicking her jeans across the room, Kassandra slid her lace panties down her thighs, and they slid down to her ankles. Completely naked, she sat on Elijah's lap, facing him. Their lips met again in a hungry, passionate, lust filled kiss. He wanted her so, so badly, and she wanted him just as much.

Elijah's hands ran down Kassandra's shoulders, down her chest and grazed her breasts. She shivered involuntarily, and he smirked slightly. His thumb ran over her nipple and Kassandra bit her bottom lip as he went back to tracing her curves. Kassandra let out a moan as Elijah rubbed her clit in a fast little circle.

She couldn't take it anymore- she needed him. Kassandra growled slightly as she kissed Elijah again hard. She was supposed to be in control. Without breaking their kiss, she practically ripped off Elijah's underwear, leaving him completely naked, just like her.

Kassandra didn't waste any time. She gripped his member with one hand and lined it up of with her entrance. Then, with one thrust from Kassandra, Elijah entered her, and they both hissed slightly.

It was pure instinct from then on. Elijah gripped Kassandra's hips as she rode him with short, fast thrusts. Elijah kissed her heatedly, and she kissed him back, though she never stopped her movements.

Kassandra let out a moan, when suddenly Elijah flipped her onto her back and took control. She frowned at him, but it quickly went away when he hit her sweet spot. Elijah went even faster, now that he was in control. And when he tossed Kassandra's leg over his shoulder, he went even deeper into her.

"Oh, _fuck," _she cursed, gripping his shoulders. _"Elijah!"_

Kassandra came, and with a few more thrusts, Elijah came as well. Both were panting heavily as he pulled out of her. One thing was for sure, Gabriella's Grimoire was the last thing on their minds right then.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **sorry for the wait, I hope the smut made up for it. And I also hope I'm slowly getting better at writing sex scenes.

This will probably be the last update for a week. I'm going on vacation with my family on Wednesday, and on Sunday I'm going to an all day concert. And on Monday and Tuesday I'll be focused on updating my other stories.

Thanks to: Guest, SomebodyWhoCares, Herd-o-sheep, Lady Wesker, and Katherine Sparrow for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	12. friends with benefits

**Chapter eleven**

_Friends with benefits_

"The sex was good, right?"

"Of course it was good!" Kassandra replied to Ruby, reaching across her towards the mascara, as the two prepared to go out. It was Girl's Night. On Girl's Night, the two dressed up as slutty as one could while still maintaining their dignity and went to a club, where they drank and drank and then eventually ditched each other and went home with strangers in leather pants and got laid. It was tradition.

"He's a thousand years old, Ruby. What a poor, pathetic life he would live if he wasn't good in bed," Kassandra continued. "Besides, I wouldn't have slept with him twice if it sucked."

Ruby shrugged. "True. But I thought it was worth asking. You might've just been really, really horny," she said with a smirk.

"Well, I was, but that doesn't make Elijah any less great," she said.

Ruby raised her eyebrows. "So he was _great? _Not just _good? _He was _great?" _She started to smirk at her friend.

Kassandra just rolled her eyes as she tugged her tank top up. "I still say that you should've gone with the corset," Ruby said while applying eyeliner.

"Please, I wore enough corsets in the past to last me forever," Kassandra said, her nose wrinkling just at the thought. Breathing really was a gift, a beautiful, beautiful gift. That was why she refused to wear spandex this decade- she never wanted to go through that torture ever again.

"Whatever, it made your boobs look good, that's all," Ruby replied, before arching an eyebrow. "But, do you even care if your boobs look good anymore?"

"What does that mean?" Kassandra asked, confused.

"It means, are you going to try to hook up tonight?" Ruby asked.

"Why wouldn't I?" Kassandra asked, still confused.

"Well, you slept with Elijah twice in twenty four hours. Are you telling me that doesn't change anything? You two aren't, you know, _together?" _

Kassandra scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Are you kidding me? Of course not. He's not my _boyfriend. _He's my friend. We have fun together," she said simply.

"You're my friend and we have fun together," Ruby countered. "But I'm gonna need more alcohol if we're going to have the same kind of fun you and Elijah have."

She laughed slightly and hip bumped Ruby. "Not what I meant. He's my _special _friend," she corrected herself.

"Friends with benefits, you mean?" Ruby raised both her eyebrows and Kassandra nodded.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Not a smart move, Kass," Ruby warned. "Trust me, friends with benefits never work out. Ever. Two people can't have sex regularly without developing feelings, without getting attached. It's not possible."

"Well, I beg to differ," Kassandra argued. "And my thousand years plus of life experience trumps your twenty four years-worth."

Ruby just shrugged. "Whatever. But when this whole thing blows up in your face, I reserve the right to say 'I told you so,'" she said, applying red lipstick.

Kassandra pursed her lips as she considered Ruby's warning. Of course two thousand year vampires were mature enough to understand that sex was just _sex, _right? If anybody was mature enough, it would be the two of the oldest living things on the earth.

But friends with benefits never worked out. Ever.

_**~SYH~**_

"When's the last time you talked to your fuck buddy anyway?" Ruby asked as the two stepped onto the rowdy, noise filled streets of New York City.

Kassandra smirked. "When he asked for his shirt back, because he had family business to attend to. Elijah isn't nearly as comfortable with walking around the city half naked as I am."

"That's a good thing, Kass," Ruby said with a smirk, as she tried to hail a taxi. But hailing a taxi on a Friday night in New York City was nearly impossible.

It started to rain lightly, but began picking up. Kassandra tried to protect her hair with her jacket, but it wasn't working all that well. Ruby cursed as the two ran under a building to protect them from the rain.

"Hell no, I did not spend half an hour on my makeup just to have it all washed away," Ruby muttered.

"The club's only seven blocks away- we can walk it," Kassandra offered, praying that her hair wasn't too damaged.

"In the rain? I don't think so," Ruby said skeptically.

Kassandra pursed her lips, but then smirked when she saw a man walking briskly past them with an umbrella protecting him from the rain.

"Excuse me, Sir?" she called, jogging after him.

"Yeah?" he stopped walking and turned to face her.

"Can my friend and I borrow your umbrella, pretty please?" Kassandra's eyes dilated as she compelled him.

"Of course," he said, without a choice. He handed her the umbrella and then walked away, the rain soaking him.

Kassandra turned back to Ruby and smirked. "Crisis averted."

"My feet are going to kill me," Ruby muttered as she joined Kassandra under the plain black umbrella.

Kassandra frowned to herself as they began walking. She noticed something strange in her friend that she never really paid any attention to before. Ruby didn't blink an eye when Kassandra had compelled the man for his umbrella.

Thinking back, she had never really cared whenever Kassandra compelled a person. Even the times when Kassandra had shown up at her apartment at four in the morning, blood covering face, after killing her occasional human boy toy, Ruby hadn't given any sign that she had cared.

It was strange, because, even though Ruby was friends with a vampire- something that had her family up in arms- she had never ever given any signs that she disapproved of Kassandra's vampire lifestyle. It was unheard of, of a witch. Ruby had never once judged Kassandra for being a vampire, and she was curious as to why.

"Ruby?" she asked as they turned a corner.

"Yeah, Kass?" she asked curiously.

"Why don't you judge me?" she asked bluntly.

Ruby frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Not once have I ever seen or heard you judge me or scold me for compelling or even killing humans. Not once. And you're a witch, and witches are judgy creatures. So, why? Why are you even friends with me in the first place, when you know your entire family hates you for it?" Kassandra asked her friend curiously.

Ruby shrugged. "I've never really understood why witches were so judgy in the first place. I mean, I get that we hate- or are supposed to hate- vampires because they murder and kill. But it's not just vampires that kill. Werewolves kill and humans kill, and even witches kill. I guess I just choose to judge people on whether they're good people, not on what they are," she answered.

Kassandra nodded. She could just imagine Gabriella being ashamed of her vampire daughter. _The shit the other witch spirits must give her, _she thought bitterly.

Thinking about Gabriella made Kassandra think about her Grimoire, which made her think about Elijah's current condition and what she was supposed to ask Ruby.

"Have you ever heard of a spell that binds siblings together. Like, a blood spell?" Kassandra asked her friend as the rain poured harder on them.

"What do you mean?" Ruby's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Like 'what happens to one happens to all,'" Kassandra said, quoting Elijah when he was explaining the spell to her.

Ruby pursed her lips. "A blood spell, you say? I'm gonna need more information, Kass."

Kassandra took a deep breath. "Esther cast a spell on her children, the originals. That's what the spell was, a binding spell, a blood spell. It was to make it easier to kill them. You killed one original, you killed them all, even the invincible hybrid, Klaus," she explained.

Ruby frowned. "I think I read a spell like that once," she said, thinking deeply.

"Really? Do you know of a way to reverse it, to break the spell?" Kassandra asked, actually hoping to be able to tell Elijah good news.

"Maybe, I'm not sure," Ruby answered. "I'll have to dig up some really old Grimoires from the back of my closet. But, if I find the right spell, then yeah, I'll be able to reverse it." She looked up at Kassandra and smirked. "Do you want me to reverse it, Kass? To save your fuck buddy and his siblings?"

Kassandra shrugged. "I'm really indifferent to it all, but I promised Elijah I'd ask if you could help them."

"Liar." Ruby's smirk grew. "You'd care if he'd die, wouldn't you? Jesus, Kass. You've slept with the man twice and you're already caring about him. Mark my words, you'll be head over heels in love with him by next week."

"Whatever you say, Ruby." Kassandra just rolled her eyes. It was always best just to ignore Ruby when she got into one of her "I'm always right" moods. Ironic, because she was usually right, especially when it came to relationships.

"Look, we're here," Kassandra said suddenly, gesturing to the long line leading to the club. "What great timing, so I don't have to listen to you going on about how I'll be calling myself 'Mrs. Mikaelson' in a few short weeks."

Ruby rolled her eyes. "Just go do your thing, vampy, so that we can get in without waiting in this ridiculous line."

"Sure thing, witchy, just hang tight." Kassandra smirked at her friend, as Girl's Night really began.

_**~SYH~**_

"I don't understand how some people think leather pants look good on them," Ruby said as the two slid into a booth, also courtesy of Kassandra's compulsion, with drinks in their hands.

Kassandra shrugged. "People see only what they want to see," she said, leaning into the soft leather of the booth's interior. She scanned the crowd while frowning. "There really isn't a good herd of guys tonight. I don't see one guy I could sleep with," she complained.

"Speak for yourself," Ruby said, her eyes already on a potential man. "I see plenty of decent men I'd sleep with. Your feelings for Elijah are just cock blocking you."

Kassandra glared at her friend. "You know, this whole 'you're going to fall madly in love with Elijah' bit is getting really old really fast," she complained.

"I only speak the truth, Kass," she said with a smirk.

Kassandra rolled her eyes and started to slide out of the booth. "I'm going to need more alcohol," she muttered.

"Get me a martini, will you?" Ruby called as she made her way through the crowd.

"Fine, but you're buying the next round!" she shouted over the loud music.

Ruby nodded and mouthed 'fair enough,' before Kassandra was sucked into the crowd completely.

It took her five minutes to get to the bar, and the prices were ridiculously overpriced when Kassandra managed to get a bartender's attention. Still, Kassandra paid for her drinks and was about to go back to Ruby when somebody grabbed her shoulder.

"Kass?"

Kassandra turned around to face a familiar face, a very familiar face. The attractive man smiled at her, all blue eyes and dimples.

"Jackson." She said his name as a sigh of displeasure, as if seeing him single handedly ruined her night.

"How have you been, Kassie? It's been a while-"

Jackson was cut off when Kassandra set her drinks down and punched him in the jaw.

"Don't call me Kassie."

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **I am so, so, so sorry for the lack of update. Hopefully I get better at updating!

Thank you to: SomebodyWhoCares, and Lady Wesker for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	13. belief in love

**Chapter twelve**

_Belief in love_

"Don't be like that, Kassandra," Jackson sighed as Kassandra pushed past people, ignoring their glares and curses. She didn't want to even be in the same club as the asshole following her.

"It's been two years!" he shouted after her. "Are you really going to hold a grudge on me forever?"

"Rot in hell, you disgusting douche-dick," she shouted after him, over the loud, pulsing music.

She slammed the drinks on the table when she made it back to Ruby. Her best friend raised an eyebrow at her. "What's wrong, Kass?" she asked, slightly concerned that she would vamp out from all the anger coursing through her at that moment.

She took a deep breath, running a hand over her face. "Jackson's here."

Ruby sighed. "Well, this night's ruined," she said.

"You think?" Kassandra shot back, tossing her drink back, the alcohol doing nothing to calm her down.

Ruby silently handed Kassandra her drink. "What'd he say to you?" she asked curiously, eyes scanning over the wall of bodies separating their booth and the bar.

"He had the nerve to act like we were friends, like he hadn't singlehandedly destroyed any belief I still held in love," she muttered. "God, I hate him. No, I _loathe _him. Why haven't I drained him dry yet, Ruby? Why haven't you cast any of your witchy voodoo on him? Why haven't we done the world a favor and ended his terrible, horrific life?"

"You know why, Kass," Ruby said with a sigh. "I just can't believe he's here. I thought he moved to Miami or someplace down south."

"Apparently not," Kassandra said, slamming the martini glass down on the table and putting several cracks in the glass.

"I need to get out of here, Ruby," she said now, running a hand through her hair. "I can't stay here now, knowing that _testa di merda _is here."

Ruby raised an eyebrow. "I don't even want to know what you just called him in Spanish," she said.

"Italian," she said, the corner of her mouth flickering up slightly. "You can stay if you want, Ruby. I don't want to ruin your night."

But she was already shaking her head. "No way. Nu-uh. I'm not staying here with that mofo walking around. We can just go rent a movie, alright? Girls Night In."

"Fine," Kassandra said, nodding in agreement. "But I'm not watching _The Notebook, _or _A Walk To Remember _or _Dear John _or anything based on a Nicholas Sparks book."

"Fine," Ruby said, sliding out of the booth. "I'll just make you watch _Casablanca. _That's not a Nicholas Sparks book."

Kassandra made a face, as the two friends walked out of the noisy club. Her thoughts were already drifting away from Jackson. And, with enough alcohol, she might manage to forget about him that night.

_**~SYH~**_

Ruby was asleep on Kassandra's couch by the time the credits on the movie rolled. Kassandra shut the TV off and threw a blanket over her friend. She was debating whether or not to go to bed too, when she decided that taking a walk would clear her mind. Because, unfortunately, Jackson was still on hers.

Kassandra was wearing a tank top and shorts, but she pulled on a sweatshirt before walking out of her apartment. She wasn't sure where she'd go, but she wasn't really concerned either. She'd just walk in whatever direction her feet would take her.

It was lightly raining as Kassandra walked down the wet streets of the city. There were still people out and about, though a lot of them were drunk and not wearing much clothing. She didn't even want to know what time it was.

"Hey, Gorgeous!" a young man cat called her, looking drunk as he swayed on unsteady legs. His friends were snickering, looking just as drunk as him.

Kassandra just rolled her eyes and kept walking. Drunk jackasses were the least of her worries. Besides, she was 50 times their age.

"Aw, don't be like that, sweetheart!" he yelled, a sloppy smirk on his lips. "Come on, join us. We'll have a lot of fun together!"

Kassandra turned around and flashed him a glimpse of her vampire face. Red eyes, long fangs. That'd be enough to frighten any jackass looking for some action. His eyes widened, full of fear, and he stumbled away from her.

"Oh my God!" he screamed as Kassandra walked away, smug with herself. She didn't doubt that he'd think he'd imagined it tomorrow. Hell, he might've been doing drugs along with getting drunk. You never knew these days.

Kassandra hadn't been completely conscious of her own steps. So, it was to her complete surprise when she found herself in front of Elijah's door. Her eyebrows furrowed. How had she made it into the elevator and up to the sixth floor without realizing where she was going, what she was doing?

Kassandra made to walk away from the door, but then she stopped herself. Without really thinking, she knocked on Elijah's door. Obnoxiously, to the point where even if he was sleeping, he'd wake up.

The door opened, and Elijah frowned at her. "Kassandra? What are you doing here?" he asked. "It's two thirty in the morning."

It was two thirty in the morning, but he hadn't been sleeping. She could tell. He was still in dress pants and a slightly wrinkled button up shirt, the first couple buttons popped open. He didn't look annoyed to see her, merely curious and confused.

Kassandra shrugged. "It's just- it hasn't been a great night for me," she admitted. "So I'm here. Can I come in, or are you busy?"

Elijah shook his head. "No, come in," he said, opening the door wider for her. She walked in, feeling self-conscious about her appearance for half a second, but it was half a second too long. Her clothes were damp and wrinkled. Her blonde hair was messy and frizzy and up high in a ponytail. Her makeup was very messy and probably all over her face. She shouldn't have cared, though.

That was a bad sign, caring about her appearance in front of Elijah. She made a mental note to never tell Ruby that. It would only fuel her argument that her "friends with benefits" situation would blow up in her face.

"What's wrong, Kassandra?" he asked her as she sat down on his couch. "What happened, if you don't mind me asking?"

Kassandra shook her head. "I don't mind," she said. And, strangely, she didn't. "Nothing, really. It's just- this jackass I used to date is back in town. I ran into him tonight, which was supposed to be Girls Night Out with Ruby. It totally ruined the night, and now I'm just… on edge. I don't even like being in the same city as him."

Elijah frowned as he sat down across from Kassandra. "Did he break your heart?" he asked her.

Kassandra smirked humorlessly at him. "I don't let people break my heart," she told him dryly. Then she sighed and ran her hands over her face. She was tired. Not physically, but mentally. Emotionally. She nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, yeah he did. He broke my heart," she admitted.

Elijah ducked his head. "Did you love him?" he asked, not sure why he was so curious of the man that broke Kassandra's heart. He also wasn't sure why hearing her talk about this nameless man angered him. Was he upset that a man had hurt Kassandra? Or was he upset that she had clearly fallen for him? Or was it both?

Kassandra shrugged. "I'm not sure, really," she said honestly. "I don't believe in love, Elijah. Especially after Jackson."

So Jackson was his name. Elijah would be sure to remember that. "I don't either, Kassandra," he told her.

She looked up, surprised. "Really?" she asked. "But- you were in love with Tatia."

That was the first time Tatia was ever brought up between them. Kassandra's ex-best friend. Elijah's infatuation. It caused an awkward feeling between them. He nodded. "Which is exactly why I choose not to believe in love," he said. "How well did it all turn out last time?"

Elijah was reminded of a conversation he had had with Katarina, when she was still human. He had admitted to not believing in love to her. _If we cease to believe in love, why would we want to live? _She had replied.

Elijah admitted to not completely understanding her words then. But looking at Kassandra, he thought he understood what Katarina had said a bit more than before.

"I'm not gonna tell you what Jackson did to me," Kassandra told him suddenly. "At least, not tonight. Not right now."

"That's fine, Kassandra," Elijah said with a nod. "You may tell me what happened whenever you would like to."

Looking at Elijah, Kassandra felt even more unsteady, more lost. Seeing Jackson again had shaken her up severely. It had made the scars burn more. Seeing Jackson made Kassandra want nothing to do with love ever again.

So, as if to mock love, Kassandra jumped up and threw her arms around Elijah's neck, her lips crashing down on his. Maybe if she slept with him, she'd feel better. She'd feel steady and she wouldn't be lost. Everything would be better with sex.

Her fingers had already unbuttoned half of the buttons on his shirt before he pushed her hand away. Elijah pulled free from Kassandra, and she frowned at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

Elijah shook his head. "Not tonight, Kassandra," he told her.

"What do you mean, 'not tonight?'" she demanded, her frown deepening.

He sighed. "We're not having sex tonight," he clarified.

Kassandra blinked, rejection stinging her. "Ouch," she muttered under her breath, standing up and moving away from him.

"What? You've slept with me twice already, so you're done with me? You don't want me anymore? Is that it?" she snapped, averting her eyes from him.

"Kassandra," he sighed. "It's not that-"

"Then what is it, Elijah?" she said, eyes narrowed.

"You're mess, Kassandra," he told her bluntly. "Right now you're a mess and I respect you too much to take advantage of you right now."

"Take advantage of me?" she repeated. "I'm literally throwing myself at you. How is that 'taking advantage of me?'"

Elijah just sighed, as if she didn't understand. Kassandra scowled at him, anger in her eyes.

"Go to hell, Elijah," she snapped, storming towards the door. She slammed the door shut after her, and the slam continued to echo in Elijah's head minutes after it happened.

How did it all escalate so quickly?

_**~SYH~**_

"I'm not in the mood, Ruby," Kassandra muttered the next morning, as Ruby raised an eyebrow at her.

"Are you still upset over Jackson?" she asked, passing the blonde who had just woken up a bowl of cereal.

Kassandra shook her head. "It's more than that," she said. "I don't want to talk about it."

Kassandra didn't even want to think about last night. She had made a complete ass out of herself. Elijah had been a gentleman. He had refused to take advantage of her when she clearly hadn't been thinking straight, and Kassandra had yelled at him for it.

He definitely didn't like her very much anymore.

"What? Troubles with you and your sex friend?" Ruby asked.

Kassandra hesitated, and Ruby's eyes widened. "I'm right, aren't I?" she said.

Kassandra just sighed. "I don't want to talk about it," she repeated.

Just then, there was a knock at the door, saving Kassandra from anymore questioning. "Maybe it's your boy toy," Ruby suggested as she made to go answer the door.

Kassandra shook her head. "I can hear a heartbeat," she said, taking a spoonful of cereal.

The door opened, and Kassandra heard Ruby sigh. "I swear to God, I'll curse your ass if you don't get out of here in five seconds," she threatened.

"I just want to talk to Kass, Ruby," an unfortunately familiar voice said warily.

In a blur, Kassandra was at Ruby's side. "Get out of my sight, Jackson," she growled, before slamming the door in his face.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **I'm really sorry guys! I'm working on updating regularly, I swear!

Thank you to: Katherine Sparrow, SomebodyWhoCares, Lady Wesker, and for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	14. the ex

**Chapter thirteen**

_The ex_

The door was open again, and Jackson stared pleadingly at Kassandra. "Come on, Kass," he said. "Five minutes, alright? Just give me five minutes."

She pretended to contemplate his request. "Hmm, how about zero minutes and I _don't _rip out your liver?" she bartered sarcastically, before making to slam the door shut again.

But Jackson had his hand on the door, doing his best to prevent her from shutting him out. She had forgotten that he wasn't a regular human- he was stronger than any normal human. Still, Kassandra was stronger than him by a landslide.

"Please? Kassie?" he begged, giving her his best puppy dog eyes. "Let me explain myself."

She glowered at him. "Leave, Jackson. Alright? I don't want anything to do with you," she said finally. "And the next time I see you- I'll kill you."

The corner of his mouth turned up in a twisted smile. "Please, Kassandra. Even if you wanted to kill me, we both know you can't. Last time I checked, you don't have a death wish."

Kassandra pursed her lips, trying not to act like she knew he was right. Before Jackson could speak again, Ruby had spoken up. "You have exactly five seconds to get out of my sight before I give you the worst brain aneurysm you've ever had," she spat at her best friend's ex-boyfriend. Then she pulled Kassandra back into the apartment.

Jackson narrowed his eyes. _"You wouldn't dare-"_

"Five, four, three-" Ruby started counting down in a bored voice.

He took two steps back, but didn't make any move to leave. Jackson decided to call the witch's bluff.

"Two, one, zero." With a sigh, Ruby fixed her gaze on Jackson, and he suddenly dropped to his knees, crying out in pain while clutching his head.

A twisted smirk formed on Kassandra's lips as she watched Jackson, completely enjoying his pain. She couldn't help that she had a sadistic streak in her.

"Okay, Okay! I'll leave! Just- _stop it Ruby!" _he cried out.

Ruby immediately stopped her magical assault on Jackson's brain. Then she smirked at him. "You ever want more, you just come right on back," she said, before slamming the door in his face.

Kassandra stared at her best friend in awe. "What?" Ruby asked, raising an eyebrow as she walked back to the kitchen.

"You really are a badass, aren't you Ruby?" she asked, trailing behind her, but also listening to Jackson's heartbeat as it disappeared down the hallway and towards the elevator.

Ruby smirked at Kassandra. "You're just realizing that now, are you Kass?" she asked dryly, already pouring herself another cup of coffee.

There was silence as Kassandra bit her lip, thinking about what Ruby had just done. It wouldn't go without its consequences. They both knew that Jackson was untouchable. He knew it too. If he hadn't been, Kassandra would've killed him herself a long time ago.

"You're gonna get in trouble for that, you know," she said finally, meeting Ruby's gaze.

She shrugged. "If his god forsaken pack has any problems with me, they can take it up with my badass witch powers," she said lightly, with a careless shrug of her shoulders as she added sugar and cream into her coffee.

Kassandra didn't miss the flash of concern that was in Ruby's eyes for a split second. But then she blinked her big brown eyes, and it was gone like it had never been there in the first place.

_**~SYH~**_

Kassandra stared at her cellphone, eyebrows furrowed, and teeth gnawing on her bottom lip like they always did whenever she was caught in a deep thought.

"Are you ever going to tell me what happened between you and Elijah last night?"

Ruby walked out of Kassandra's bathroom, dark hair dripping wet, wearing clothes that belonged to the vampire sitting cross legged on the couch.

"You know, your apartment as a shower too. And clothes. Specifically those that belong to you," Kassandra said, not taking her eyes off of her phone.

"Yeah, but then you'd start to miss my wonderful presence, Kass," Ruby quipped, grinning as she sat down on the couch across from the vampire.

"Distance makes the heart grow fonder," Kassandra retorted, but her mind was elsewhere. It was obvious to Ruby. She was caught up in something her best- and only- friend didn't know about.

"And you're trying to distract me from the fact that you're having a staring contest with your phone." Ruby raised an eyebrow. "What's going on Kass? What happened with you and Elijah? For real this time."

Kassandra just sighed heavily. "He hasn't called yet," she said finally, leaning back into the fluffy pillows of the cream colored couch she was sitting on. "And he usually calls by now."

"I'm going to need more details," Ruby said, frowning at Kassandra.

She sighed again, finally deciding to give into Ruby's thirst for knowledge. "After you fell asleep last night, I went to Elijah's, and, long story short, we got into a fight. Well, not really a fight. I sort of yelled at him and stormed out," she explained.

"Why did you get pissed at him?" Ruby asked curiously.

Kassandra ran a hand over her face. "I wanted a distraction from Jackson, so I made a move-"

"Made a move?" Ruby cut her off, raising her eyebrow, face full of disbelief.

"Alright, I jumped him. But then he just pushed me off, saying that he didn't want to take advantage of me when I was clearly a mess. He called me a mess, Ruby. A mess! Not only did Elijah completely embarrass me and make me look like a fool, he insulted me. So I cursed him out and left," she finished heatedly, some of her anger from last night coming back.

"Mm hmm," Ruby said, nodding slightly. But she didn't look entirely convinced.

Kassandra frowned at her. "Why do I have the feeling that you're not on my side?"

"It's not that I'm not on your side, it's that I think you're making a big deal out of nothing, Kass," Ruby explained.

Kassandra narrowed her eyes at her friend. "Oh, am I now?" she asked, gritting her teeth slightly.

"What you might call embarrassing you, others might call acts of a gentleman. And they say chivalry's dead," she added as an afterthought, with a slight chuckle.

"Ruby, I still don't get what you're saying. How is making me look like some groupie, falling all over myself, trying to sleep with him, actually Elijah being a gentleman?" Kassandra asked impatiently, equal parts frustrated and confused.

"He could tell that you weren't yourself, Kassandra. He knew you were in a bad place, and he didn't want to take advantage of that. He didn't want to feel like he was using you, even if he wasn't," she explained.

Kassandra stared blankly at Ruby, who sighed. "Think of it this way, Kass. Elijah is a moral guy, right?" she nodded slowly, and Ruby continued. "Well, how honorable is it to sleep with a woman who is an emotional wreck?"

"Hey now, I was not an emotional wreck," Kassandra defended herself.

Ruby shot her a look and she sighed. "Fine, I get your point. To Elijah, he was just doing the right thing, no matter how annoying that can be."

Ruby nodded and smiled smugly to herself. "So, you know what you got to do now, right?" she asked Kassandra, settling into the pillows behind her.

"No, but I'm sure you'll tell me," Kassandra muttered, pushing her blonde hair out of her face.

"You need to go apologize to him, Kass," Ruby said seriously.

Kassandra glowered. "I don't do apologies, Ruby," she said.

"Well, you should start," Ruby said, standing up and running her hands through her damp hair. "Because it'd be a real shame if you lose whatever you had with Elijah just because you hate admitting that you screwed up."

Ruby began to walk towards the front door, and Kassandra glared at her retreating best friend. "I don't hate admitting I screw up, Ruby. Have you met me? I screw up every day, and twice on Sundays," she exclaimed after her.

"Then you should have no problem apologizing to him!" Ruby retorted. "Call me after you and Elijah have apology sex."

The door slammed shut after Ruby, letting Kassandra know that the discussion was closed for arguments.

_**~SYH~**_

Kassandra forced herself to knock on Elijah's door. She knew she needed to apologize, she just wasn't the best at apologizing. Hopefully Elijah wouldn't make it too hard on her. _Or he wouldn't be home at all, _she thought eagerly, when he didn't answer the door.

Unfortunately for Kassandra, the door opened at that moment, revealing Elijah. He didn't look like he usually did- immaculate. His suit was wrinkled, his tie undone, his hair a mess. He looked distracted, very distracted. Kassandra instantly knew that it had less to do with their "fight," and more with his mother and brother that were trying to kill him and his brothers and sister.

"Kassandra." He sounded very surprised to see her, and she offered him a half smile.

"Are you busy?" she asked him, taking note of his frazzled appearance. It was a little unnerving, to see Elijah looking so out of control. He was always in control, of everything. It was something she envied about him.

"Yes, I suppose you could say that." Elijah looked down at the phone in his hand, before putting it in his pocket. "But what do you need, Kassandra?"

She sighed slightly and ran a hand through her hair, before saying, "Can I come in?"

He nodded, and let her pass him and walk into the apartment. She noted that it was also looking a bit messy, just like the original vampire living in it. Before she could talk herself out of it, her apology was flying out her mouth. "I'm sorry, Elijah. Apparently I made a big deal out of something that really wasn't a big deal," she said quickly, refusing to look Elijah in the eyes.

Elijah's lips quirked upwards, just giving a hint of a smile. "I didn't stop you because I wanted you to stop, Kassandra, just remember that," he told her.

She nodded. "I know. You stopped me because it was the 'right thing.'" She rolled her eyes. How hard it must be, to be so moral like Elijah. It required a lot of self-control that Kassandra didn't have, nor would she ever have.

She looked up at him, daring to meet his eyes for the first time. "Do you forgive me?" she asked, hating how she sounded, like his answer would seriously affect her. She hated knowing that it would.

"I was never upset with you in the first place," he answered easily, not missing how her shoulders relaxed slightly in relief.

"Good," she replied, going back to the Kassandra he knew; the snarky, sarcastic Kassandra, who had more guards up than a high security prison. "Because I have enough people holding grudges against me."

Kassandra made herself at home on his couch, and when she got comfortable, she raised an eyebrow at him. "Now, what's wrong with you?" she asked him.

"I wouldn't know what you're talking about, Kassandra," he said evasively.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Please, if nothing's wrong than why do you look like you're the victim of some unfortunate fashion accident?" she asked, standing up and walking over to Elijah.

Kassandra smoothed down his shirt, her fingers quickly doing his tie so that it hung cleanly down his chest. Then her hands reached up to smooth down his messy hair. When she was finished, she smiled slightly. "There," she said. "All better."

Her eyes met his. "Now, tell me what happened," she all but demanded.

Elijah sighed. "It's my mother," he explained. Kassandra wasn't surprised- everything lately had something to do with Esther. "I think she found witches willing to help her and Finn."

Kassandra bit her lip- that wasn't a good thing. "It doesn't matter, though," she said suddenly, in hopes of cheering him up. "The only way to kill you is a spell in my mother's Grimoire, and the only way Esther will get it is to pry it out of my cold, dead hands."

Elijah frowned slightly, jolted by Kassandra's words. The thought of Esther killing Kassandra was just… unthinkable. He'd be damned if he let it come to that.

"And I'm going through all my boxes in New York," she added, bringing his attention back to their conversation. "No luck yet, but I'm having the boxes from my storage unit in Arkansas shipped here. I'll find it, eventually."

Elijah frowned at Kassandra suddenly, noticing that she looked just as distracted as he did. Something was bothering her, and he knew that it had something to do with her ex. "What's wrong, Kassandra?" he asked her.

She opened her mouth to deny that there was something wrong, but then stopped herself. It was only fair that Elijah know her troubles when she knew his. "His name is Jackson," she told him. "My ex's name is Jackson and he's what's wrong."

Elijah's frown deepened. "Is he bothering you?" he asked.

She nodded. "He stopped by my apartment this morning. He wants me to hear him out, but I'm not in the listening mood," she muttered, running a hand over her face as she sat back down on the couch.

Elijah sat down next to her. "Why don't you just-"

"Kill him?" she finished with a twisted smile. "Trust me, if I could, I would, but I can't."

"Why not?" He asked despite himself.

"Jackson's not… human, Elijah," she said. "He knows about vampires and witches and he knows what I am."

Kassandra took a deep breath. "Jackson's a werewolf."

Elijah didn't even have time to process that bit of information, for Kassandra was already talking again. "And not only does he belong to the biggest werewolf pack in North America, his father is the leader of his pack. Jackson's untouchable."

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **I AM SO SORRY. It's been a month since I last updated, and that's inexcusable. I'm really, really sorry, but know that I would never give up on this story or any of my stories.

Thank you to: sPaRKzZz, Storylover, SomebodyWhoCares, Lady Wesker, and for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	15. the past

**Chapter fourteen**

_The past_

"You were in a relationship with a werewolf?" Elijah asked, sounding astonished. His eyebrows rose in surprise and Kassandra sighed and ran a hand over her face.

"I must admit, my taste in men hasn't always been the greatest. I tend to go for the type of relationship that will never, ever be good for me and ultimately blow up in my face," she said.

"Just… a werewolf?" Elijah repeated, as if he couldn't comprehend why Kassandra would go for a hairy dog of all supernatural creatures.

She just shrugged. "So it wasn't the best decision I've ever made. What's so shocking about it?" she asked.

"I just remember not too long ago when you wanted nothing to do with me because you thought I was dangerous," Elijah said. "And one would think that a werewolf would be dangerous as well, considering that their bite can kill a vampire."

"That rumor's true?" Kassandra asked, eyebrows shooting up.

Elijah nodded. "Yes, very much so."

Kassandra just shrugged. "Well, it wasn't like I was all gung ho about dating a werewolf. But… Jackson was charming, and he eventually got to me." She smirked slightly. "Kind of like you."

Elijah's nose wrinkled. He didn't like being compared to a werewolf, especially one he considered belong in the deepest parts of hell. He was slowly starting to become protective of Kassandra- even though she didn't need the protection- and thinking about what Jackson had done to her made him want to rip the dog's heart out. He didn't care about what the repercussions would be. He wasn't threatened by his pack. He was an original vampire, no bite could kill him.

Kassandra stood up to get a bottle of wine from the kitchen. She knew what Elijah was going to ask her next, and she needed to have at least a buzz in order to have that conversation.

As soon as Kassandra returned with a bottle of red wine and two glasses, Elijah asked her exactly what she thought he would ask. "What exactly happened between the two of you, if you don't mind me asking?" he asked politely.

She sighed and popped the bottle open. "Fine, I'll tell you the story," she said, filling the two glasses with blood colored wine. "Just don't prepare yourself for a happy ending."

Elijah nodded understandingly and accepted the glass of wine she offered him. "Whenever you wish to start, Kassandra."

She took a deep breath and a big gulp of her wine. "It all started with him ruining my favorite pair of shoes."

_Two years ago_

_New York City, New York_

"_Ruby!" Kassandra called, pushing past people to reach the girl. They had met a few weeks ago, when Ruby started to bartend at the same bar as Kassandra. She had instantly known that Kassandra was a vampire- because she was a witch. Unlike every other witch Kassandra had known, though, Ruby wasn't self-righteous or judgmental. She was a cool witch, and the two had instantly hit it off._

"_Hey Kass," Ruby greeted her, smiling and patting the bar stool next to her. "Glad you could make it."_

_She shrugged. "Well, there was nothing good on TV," she said with a smirk. Ruby just rolled her eyes in response._

"_I ordered you a shot," the witch told her, passing her a shot of tequila. Kassandra took it graciously. She sprinkled salt on the back of her hand, licked it off, tossed her shot back, and then bit into her lime._

_She made a face as the tequila hit her. "Ugh," she muttered. "Tequila has never been kind to me."_

_Just then, somebody bumped into her and dumped their beer all over her brand new pumps she had paid an arm and a leg for._

"_Oh my God," Kassandra said, looking down at her ruined shoes with a mixture of anger and sadness. Those poor things had barely seen the outside of her closet, and now they were doomed for the trash. "What the hell?"_

"_Shit, I'm sorry." She looked over to see a man in his twenties frown drunkenly at her shoes, an empty glass in his hands. "Didn't see you there, sweetheart."_

_Her nose wrinkled in disgust at him. He reeked of beer and cigarettes. "Whatever," she muttered, gritting her teeth in anger. She had half a mind to make him buy her another pair of Louboutins, but decided it wasn't worth it._

_She turned back to Ruby, when the drunk jackass grabbed her shoulder. "Hey gorgeous," he slurred. "What's your name?"_

_She glared at him. "Don't touch me," she said, pushing him away. She wondered if he had any idea of what she was. Kassandra was very capable of ripping his throat out if she wanted to._

"_Aw, honey, don't be like that." He offered her a lopsided grin that was a tiny bit cute. "I'm Jackson." He offered her his hand._

"_And I'm not interested." Kassandra smirked at him and Ruby hid her laughter behind a cough. _

_Kassandra turned back to her new witch friend. "Can we get out of here?" She asked, eying Jackson with distaste._

"_Sure." She nodded. "The martinis suck anyway."_

_And with one last look of disgust, Kassandra pushed past Jackson, hoping she'd never have to see him again._

_Two weeks had passed, and Kassandra was working her shift when the door opened and a customer stumbled in._

_She didn't bother to look up when somebody sat down in front of her. She'd make the other bartender serve them._

"_Hey, it's the girl who's shoes I ruined."_

_Kassandra frowned and looked up to see a familiar face. She let out a groan. "And it's the drunk jackass who owes me shoes to replace the ones he ruined," she muttered._

"_I prefer Jackson," he said with a grin._

"_Well, I prefer drunk jackass," she retorted, still washing glasses. _

"_But I'm not even drunk right now, so your name wouldn't make any sense," he argued, and Kassandra just rolled her eyes._

"_Whatever, guy. I don't really give a shit," she said, wishing he'd just go away._

_Jackson leaned forward. "Let me buy you a drink," he said. "To make up for it."_

"_I would rather poke my eyes out," she spat._

_Jackson smirked and leaned towards her. "Well, then maybe I could get you a glass of blood instead," he said, lowering his voice._

_Kassandra froze. How could he possibly know?_

_Her eyes quickly scanned the room, looking for anyone else, but they were alone. In the blink of an eye, she slammed Jackson against a nearby wall by his neck._

"_How do you know?" she hissed at him, eyes darkening and her grip tightening._

"_I'll give you three guesses," he wheezed out, though there was still a smirk on his lips._

_She narrowed her eyes. "You're a hunter?"_

"_Nope."_

_Her eyebrows furrowed. "A witch?"_

"_Not even close," Jackson answered._

_And then Kassandra's eyes widened. "You're a werewolf."_

"_Bingo," he said, his irritating smirk growing wider._

_Kassandra let him go and ran a hand over her face. "I think I could use that drink now," she said._

_Every night after the two found out what the other was, Jackson came by the bar every night, until the point where Kassandra found herself missing him when he wasn't there. She found Jackson not nearly as annoying the more she got to know him. _

_Still, having any relationship with a werewolf would be stupid and reckless and possibly deadly. Because Kassandra knew the rumor that a werewolf bite could kill a vampire all too well. And she didn't want to take that risk._

_But one night, when the bar was empty besides her and Jackson, he went in to kiss her. And when his lips touched hers, Kassandra decided the risk was worth it._

"And they didn't live happily ever after, the end."

Kassandra ran a hand over her face and set her empty wine glass down on the coffee table.

Elijah gave her a look and she sighed. "Look, there's really not that much left to it. Only the really crappy parts, but who needs to hear that?"

"You were falling in love with him, weren't you?" Elijah said softly.

"I told you I don't believe in love, Elijah," she said stubbornly.

"Kassandra-"

"Fine!" she exclaimed angrily. "Yes, I was falling in love with him. And then the crappy part happened and I fell out of love with him. It happens, no biggie."

"What did he do to you?"

Kassandra sighed and ran her hands over her face. "He broke my heart, that's what he did," she said quietly.

_About two months after Jackson had kissed her, things had gotten pretty serious- at least, as serious as things had ever gotten for Kassandra._

_She knew everything about his family, his past. His father was the leader of the pack, and he expected his son do step up after he died, but Jackson didn't want that. Still, with everything she knew, Jackson had yet to introduce her to any of his friends or family._

_She pretended that she wasn't bothered by it, that it didn't matter to her. But it did. It did matter to her. He always said that his friends and family weren't as keen on vampires as he was, but Kassandra just knew that he was hiding something._

_And one day, she finally found out just what it was._

"_Jackson?" Kassandra called as she walked into his apartment one afternoon. She could hear a heartbeat, but Jackson never answered._

"_Can I help you?"_

_A young woman with blonde hair and striking blue eyes walked out of a bedroom, wearing what Kassandra recognized was one of Jackson's shirts._

_She stiffened, eyes widening. "Who are you?" she asked bluntly, feeling her heart drop to her stomach._

"_Heidi," she answered, frowning at Kassandra's rudeness. "Jackson's fiancée. Who are you?"_

"_Babe," Jackson called, suddenly walking into the room. "Who's at the-"_

_When he saw Kassandra's accusing stare, he froze. "Kassandra," he breathed. "What are you doing here?"_

_Her glare cut down to his core, and with one last pitying look at Heidi, Kassandra turned around and stormed out of the apartment._

"_Kassandra, wait!" Jackson chased after her, slamming the door behind her. "I can explain everything, okay?"_

"_You're engaged?" she snapped. "How long, Jackson?"_

_He sighed. "Look, it's complicated-"_

"_How long?" she repeated, her voice as cold as ice._

"_Two years," he answered. "But, listen, Kassandra. I didn't have a choice, okay? Heidi and I, we've practically been arranged to be married since we were born. Her family's very prominent in the pack and my dad wants to make sure our blood line lives on, so that werewolves won't go completely extinct."_

"_You disgust me," she snapped. "I hope you rot in hell."_

_She went to walk away, when he grabbed her arm. "Please, Kass, let me explain!" he exclaimed. "When I met you, everything changed! You were different, and-"_

"_Just don't even try, okay Jackson? You can't explain this." She pushed him off of her, and he slammed into the wall, leaving a dent in it. "I hope I never see you again," she snarled. "Have a nice life, jackass."_

_And then Kassandra stormed away before he could stop her._

Elijah and Kassandra stared at each other in silence after she finished her story. After a while, Kassandra let out a deep sigh and set the empty wine bottle down.

"I'm gonna need more alcohol," she muttered, standing up to get another bottle of wine.

The look of pity in Elijah's eyes was the exact reason why she didn't want to tell him in the first place.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: jamiecarterannie, Lady Syndra, Storylover, Katherine Sparrow, SomebodyWhoCares, and Lady Wesker for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	16. Dominance

**Chapter fifteen**

_Dominance _

Kassandra settled back onto the couch, only this time there was a bottle of Jack Daniels in her hand. She decided that she needed something stronger than wine after pouring some of her heart out to Elijah. The only thing that could make it worse would be if she had to talk about her little brother, Peter, next.

"I don't want your pity, Elijah," she said after a few minutes of silence, blowing her bangs out of her face as she took a long sip from her bottle. The whiskey burned her throat in a familiar way as she swallowed the liquor.

"That's why I would never offer you my pity, Kassandra," he retorted, standing up picking up the many wine glasses and bottles that littered the coffee table.

"Good," she said. "Because I don't want it. And I'm leaving if you look at me like I'm some poor pathetic creature again."

"That implies that I've done it before," Elijah replied from the kitchen.

"Don't think I didn't see the look of pity you threw my way when I told you Jackson was engaged, Mikaelson," she called, resting her feet on the arm of the couch.

"I'm sure you must have misinterpreted a look of interest as pity, Kassandra," he said.

"Mmhmm hmm," she said skeptically, bringing the bottle back to her lips.

Before she could start to drink her problems away, the bottle was out of her hands.

Kassandra frowned and sat up straight, looking around to see Elijah putting the cap back on the bottle of Jack Daniels. "Hey," she said, sounding somewhat defiant as she looked at him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Cutting you off," Elijah replied in a pleasant, normal tone.

"And what makes you think you get to cut me off?" Kassandra asked as she placed her feet back on the ground and raising an eyebrow at the old vampire.

"Well, I can draw some support based on the facts that when you get emotionally unstable, you drink. And that is when you make the worst decisions. So I am just doing the right thing and cutting you off at the source before you can make those decisions."

_How boring it must be, being so righteously moral, _Kassandra thought but didn't say. Instead she said in a dignified tone, "You don't know me."

"On the contrary, Kassandra, I'm afraid that I do, in fact, know you," Elijah replied, moving to put the bottle of whiskey away.

In a blur, Kassandra made to take the bottle back from the original. But before her fingers could even wrap around the neck of the bottle, Elijah had her against the wall, his hands firmly pinning her shoulders against the rather bland wall of his apartment.

Behind them, the sound of glass shattering against the floor was audible as the bottle smashed against the floor. Kassandra let out a sigh, knowing that she was never going to get drunk now. Not with Elijah suddenly playing the part of her sponsor and keeping her alcohol away from her.

She pouted at him. "Are you really that against me drinking tonight?" she asked.

Elijah shrugged. "I'm doing you a favor, Kassandra."

"I doubt it," she replied. If he really wanted to help her, he'd go out and buy her some more bourbon.

But then Kassandra's mind went to something else that could distract her from that suckish feeling in her heart, which had been there ever since she relived her past with Jackson. Sex would distract her perfectly. More specifically, sex with Elijah.

Kassandra leaned forward and caught his lips with her own. When Kassandra placed a hand on his shoulder to deepen the kiss, which was when Elijah pulled away from her.

She sighed, clearly frustrated, as she ran her hands through her hair. Elijah said that he did know her. But if he knew her so well, why was he taking her vices away? Why didn't he understand that that was how she grieved, how she dealt with whatever shit life threw her way. He clearly didn't know her very well, if he kept her away from alcohol and sex.

"Look, I get it," Kassandra said after a few beats of silence. "You're a moral guy, and I can respect that. You don't want to feel like you're taking advantage of me, and I can respect that too. But… what if I need you to take advantage of me, just so I can get out of this stupid slump Jackson has me falling into again? Then can you just take one for the team and sleep with me so I can go back to being normal Kassandra?"

Silence followed her little speech, and Kassandra sighed again, thinking that Elijah wasn't going to budge. But as she turned to pull away from him, Elijah grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him, his lips meeting hers in the process.

Kassandra was pressed up against the wall again, but this time Elijah lifted her up so that they were at the same level. Kassandra's legs wrapped around his waist as she quickly undid his tie and threw it across the room. Then she returned her attention to get his shirt off, all the while their lips never breaking.

All the buttons on Elijah's shirt went flying as Kassandra ripped it open. She smirked against his lips, just as she took control and blurred them onto the couch, ending on top of him.

Kassandra broke away from him for the first time, to take her shirt off, leaving her with just her bra and jeans on. Elijah pulled her back down to him, his hands running through her blonde hair as their lips met heatedly again.

When Kassandra's phone rang obnoxiously, both of them groaned. Elijah settled for kissing her neck, which was just as distracting as him kissing her lips, as she pulled her cellphone out of her pocket, to see that it was Ruby calling her.

"Ugh I'm going to kill Ruby," she muttered to herself as she turned off her phone, before leaning down to kiss Elijah again, her hands running through his hair as she did.

Using the ringing cellphone as a distraction, Elijah took the control back. Before Kassandra could even blink, they were in his bed. She had to admit, it was a lot comfier than the couch. There was more space too.

To Kassandra's annoyance, Elijah had decided to be completely dominant. He gripped both of her wrists in one hand, so that she couldn't do anything. Her growl turned into a moan as he used his free hand to slip under her bra. His thumb ran over her nipple, while his other fingers gently touched the rest of her breast. He was doing it on purpose, she knew. He was toying with her, and enjoying every minute of it.

Kassandra so desperately wanted to take control, to do _something. _She hated just sitting there, letting Elijah play with her. She struggled against his hold, but he was much stronger than her, and resistance was futile.

To appease the growling Kassandra, Elijah unhooked her bra completely, leaving her completely naked on top. He broke the kiss to kiss down her neck, to her shoulder, stopping above her chest. His breath blew against her nipples, and Kassandra squirmed slightly.

"I hate you," she growled. Elijah just smirked slightly as he undid his belt.

"Now, I do think that is a bit harsh, Kassandra," he said, before unbuckling her jeans.

Elijah had her jeans half off when Kassandra tackled him, her bare chest pressed against his as she attempted to take control again. Elijah easily flipped them over again, and she pouted as he pulled her jeans completely off.

"So aggressive," he murmured, and Kassandra smirked as Elijah slipped his hands under her lacy panties.

Her underwear slipped off and Kassandra was completely naked in a matter of seconds. She smirked enticingly up at him, before wrapping an arm around his neck and pulling his lips down to hers. While Kassandra kissed him, Elijah slipped two fingers inside of her.

Kassandra gasped out at the contact, but that was when she decided she had had enough with Elijah's teasing. She wanted sex, so she would get sex.

In a blur, Kassandra was on top and Elijah's pants were off. He couldn't help but be extremely turned on by Kassandra being dominant. She placed her hands on his chest as she slowly slid down on him.

But then Elijah gripped Kassandra by the hips, flipped them over and pushed entirely into her. A moan fell from her lips as her eyes closed in pleasure.

With each thrust from Elijah, he slid deeper into her. And each thrust became faster the more they both craved release. Elijah gripped Kassandra's hips so hard there would be bruises later. But Kassandra was too distracted by the pleasure to even notice, let alone care.

When Elijah suddenly hit her sweet spot, Kassandra's eyes flew open, and she dug her nails into his shoulders. Taking note of her reaction, Elijah hit her g spot again and again, causing Kassandra to let out something between a moan and a growl.

Sensing Kassandra was about to come, Elijah reached down and found her clit. He rubbed it in circles, his speed becoming faster with each thrust. Kassandra's nails dug so far into Elijah's shoulders, she drew blood.

"Oh, shit," Kassandra cursed, meeting Elijah with each thrust. Finally, it was too much to take. "Elijah!"

Kassandra contracted tightly around Elijah as her orgasm crashed through her body. With one final hard thrust, Elijah came after her.

The two were breathless as they each recovered from their own climaxes. Kassandra had been right, though. Sex with Elijah was exactly what she had needed.

_**~SYH~**_

Kassandra woke up with her head resting on Elijah's shoulder. He was still asleep as she slowly blinked the sleep away. She sat up and stretched, pushing her messy hair out of her face as she did.

She slipped out of bed, naked, and headed towards the kitchen, coffee the only thing on her mind. She found Elijah's ruined shirt along the way and slipped it on, though it did little to cover her exposed skin.

While the coffee brewed, Kassandra looked around for her clothes. She noticed that she and Elijah had a tendency to make a mess even before they had actual sex. The coffee table was practically flipped over and the couch cushions were hanging off of the couch.

A shrill ringing brought Kassandra's attention to the ringing cellphone sitting on the counter. Knowing it was Elijah's; Kassandra answered it without any real thought.

"Elijah's phone," she said with a smirk, pulling Elijah's shirt tighter around her frame.

"_Who is this? Where's Elijah?"_

Kassandra stiffened slightly at the familiar feminine voice. Rebekah.

She shook it off, though. "He's still sleeping," she said in an obnoxiously perky tone. "Can I ask who's calling?"

"_Ugh, please don't tell me you're Elijah's little slut in New York City," _Rebekah said, disgust in her voice.

Kassandra frowned, but then shrugged. She had been called worse. "I'm pretty sure that'd be me, unless he's sleeping with someone else," she replied.

"Kassandra? Who are you talking to?"

Elijah appeared at her side, zipping his pants back on as Kassandra turned to face him. "It's your sister," she told him. "Rebekah. And apparently she knows of your 'little slut in New York City.' Have you been telling your family about me? I'm touched, Elijah," she said sarcastically.

He frowned. "No, I haven't," he said, taking the phone from her. "Rebekah? What do you need?"

"_I do _not _need you to tell me what you two were just doing."_

As Elijah talked with his only sister, Kassandra went to find the rest of her clothes. She managed to find all of them and got dressed. She was putting her messy hair up as she returned to the kitchen. Elijah was still talking- more like bickering- with Rebekah, so she went to find her own cellphone.

"She's not a whore, Rebekah."

Kassandra smirked to herself as she turned her phone back on. It was so Elijah, to defend her honor.

When her phone finally started up, Kassandra's eyes widened when she saw that she had four missed calls from Ruby. What had happened, while she was busy having sex with Elijah.

Kassandra quickly checked her voicemail, and listened to one message from Ruby.

"_I know you're busy doing Elijah, Kass, but seriously. I need you to come over. Now. Someone is outside my apartment and I'm pretty sure they're not human. It's not like I can't take them on my own, but I'd feel better knowing I had back up-" _Ruby was cut off by the sound of a front door being kicked in. _"Oh, shit. Werewolves." _

Then the line went dead.

Kassandra was dialing Ruby's number before she even realized it. Ten times, she called. Each one went straight to voicemail. Kassandra kept calling, though. She didn't want to accept the truth.

That Jackson's pack had taken Ruby. As revenge.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **It's been a long time since I've given you guys smut. Hopefully it was acceptable.

Thank you to: delenawolves, halos, sPaRkzZz, jamiecarterannie, SomebodyWhoCares, Lady Syndra, Lady Wesker, and for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	17. Rescue Mission

**Chapter sixteen**

_Rescue Mission_

"Kassandra? What's wrong?"

But Kassandra was already swinging her bag onto her shoulder and heading towards the door. "I have to go," she said bluntly, not looking at him.

Elijah frowned. "Are you-" he start to ask, but she cut him off.

"-Okay?" she offered him a twisted smirk. "I haven't been okay in centuries."

Then she disappeared out the door, her mind already forming a rescue plan. She'd save Ruby, then she would slaughter every werewolf in the city.

The first thing she did was go to Ruby's apartment. When she reached it, nothing looked out of normal. But with further inspection, she found that the door wasn't closed all the way. She opened it, to find that the chain was snapped as was the lock.

Her apartment was a mess. Chairs and tables were knocked over. Bottles were shattered, papers littered the floor. Kassandra sighed. Ruby was long gone.

She just needed to get her back.

She pulled out her cellphone. She knew she should've told Elijah what was going on, asked for his help. But she couldn't bring herself to. She was too proud.

Instead, Kassandra dialed the number of a vampire she couldn't really stand but had taken it upon herself to make sure they were always on good terms. He was a vampire who had a lot of knowledge and power and always helped out a friend, especially attractive friends.

"_Hello?"_

"Miles?" she said, running a hand through her hair. "It's Kassandra."

She could practically see his slow smirk grow on his face. _"Kassandra," _he repeated. _"How long has it been?"_

"Since prohibition," she answered.

He let out a reminiscent sigh. _"Business was great back then," _he said.

Miles specialized in everything from getting illegal goods to retrieving lost or stolen items, and even to getting rid of unwanted pests- murder, basically. Kassandra had met Miles when he was just a lowly scrub in the 1700's who made a living by cleaning up after vampires. He had climbed up on the totem pole since then.

But he had a special place in his heart for her, since she was one of the only vampires who had paid him the time of day when he hadn't been so notable. Of course, Kassandra had only made friends with him in the first place because Miles had a special skill at knowing how to get rare blood types like AB-, her favorite.

"I was wondering if you still have your connections in New York City," she said, becoming impatient to get the conversation over with.

"_Of course," _Miles answered. _"What do you need?"_

"Two things," she answered. "One, I need to find out where the local werewolf pack hangs out."

"_Ah, Kassie," _he sighed. _"What did you get yourself into this time?"_

She chose to ignore him. "Can you do it or not?" she asked impatiently.

"_Of course," _he said, sighing again. _"What's the second thing you need?"_

Kassandra smirked then. "I need you to spread the word around the city for me," she said.

"_What do you want me to spread?" _he asked sounding intrigued despite himself.

"That Kassandra Blake is looking for werewolves," she answered. "And that she's going to rip apart every one she finds until she gets back what was taken from her."

_**~SYH~**_

"_I don't know what you're doing in the city, Elijah," _Rebekah said. _"And, frankly, I don't wish to know. But you need to stop fooling around and come home."_

Elijah sighed and turned back to his conversation with his sister as he watched Kassandra leave his apartment. "Believe me, Rebekah, there is nothing I can do in New York City that I can do better in Mystic Falls," he said. "I am just as committed to stopping Finn and Esther here as I would be there."

He didn't want to go back, at least not yet. He rather enjoyed being apart from his family, as bad as it sounded. He was getting a break from them that he deserved. And the one thing that New York had that Mystic Falls didn't was Kassandra. And he didn't feel like leaving her behind.

"_Are you sure about that, Brother?" _Rebekah replied skeptically. _"Because all of us are still linked together, in case you have forgotten."_

"I have not forgotten that, Rebekah," he answered. Of course he hadn't, for he had been looking for a solution to that problem the past few weeks.

"_Really? Because I imagine most of your time has been taken up by the city trollop who answered your phone," _Rebekah retorted.

Elijah gritted his teeth. "Like I said before, she's not a trollop." He paused. "How did you find out about her?"

"_Kol told the entire family about the shirt girl he found in your apartment a week ago," _she informed him, and Elijah sighed. Of course Kol would tell everyone about Kassandra. He had to make life that much more difficult for him.

"_Now does Shirt Girl have a name or should I keep referring to her as the city trollop?"_

Elijah was about to tell her that 'Shirt Girl' was indeed Kassandra Patrikson, the girl from their village a thousand years ago who was best friends with Tatia and couldn't keep her opinions to herself. Then he remembered that Kassandra liked to remain anonymous to the world, so he said, "her identity isn't any of your business, Rebekah."

"_The city trollop it is then."_

Elijah was quickly growing irritated with is only sister. "Why did you call, Rebekah?"

"_To remind you of your priorities, Elijah," _she said, suddenly growing very serious. _"You may not think your new social life doesn't affect the rest of us, but it does if it makes you forget that our mother and brother still want us dead."_

Elijah mouth was set into a hard line. "I haven't forgotten," he said quietly.

"_Good. Because the moment you do, that is when we have a problem."_

Then Rebekah hung up on him.

_**~SYH~**_

While she waited for Miles to get back to her with the location of the werewolves' hangout, Kassandra decided to walk around the city, if anything just to get out of her apartment.

Jackson had never really talked about werewolf business with her, so she didn't know where the headquarters was. She knew she was short on time, for she didn't know how long they planned to keep Ruby alive.

The thought of Ruby dying was almost unthinkable to Kassandra. She knew that Ruby was mortal, that she would age and eventually die, but she never thought about her actually dying. And thinking about it now was very distressful. Ruby was her best friend- her only friend. She couldn't really imagine not having Ruby in her life, even though she had gone nearly a thousand years without her in it.

All Kassandra knew was that she had to get Ruby back from the werewolves. There was no other option.

Her phone rang as she turned a street corner, and she answered it quickly, thinking it was Miles.

"Did you find out the location?" she asked quickly, skipping any formalities.

"_Kassandra?"_

She frowned. That wasn't Miles' voice. It was deep, with an European accent Kassandra just had traces of in her voice.

"Elijah," she said, not expecting him to call. "What do you want?

"_You left rather quickly this morning," _he said. _"And you looked like you had received unpleasant news. I was worried."_

Kassandra jolted when she heard those three words. Elijah was worried. About her. She couldn't remember the last time someone been concerned about her wellbeing, except maybe Ruby. But that just opened a different can of worms inside of her.

"Don't be," she replied, trying her best to keep her voice cool and casual. "I just have some business to attend to, that's all."

"_What happened, Kassandra?"_

She closed her eyes. He saw right through her bullshit. Thinking back, Elijah always had. He saw through her lies, her facades. He saw through everything. And it scared the living hell out of her.

"Remember my friend, Ruby?" she said, her eyes still closed as she leaned against an abandoned building. She didn't know why she was telling him any of this, but she was.

"_The witch? Yes I remember you mentioning her," _he replied.

"Well, Jackson's pack took her last night, because she did some witchy voodoo on Jackson. So now they have her, and they're gonna kill her, as revenge because she attacked the pack leader's son. And I have to get her back before they do kill her," she explained.

Elijah was silent on the other end of the line. Minutes seemed to pass before he finally spoke. _"Let me help you."_

Her eyes widened at his words. It wasn't a question or a proposal. He wasn't asking her for permission. He was merely telling her that he was going to help her rescue Ruby.

But why?

Elijah had never met Ruby, had no business caring if she lived or died. Why would he want to waste a day trying to save her life? Why would he want to help Kassandra? Why would he care?

The answer was obvious, but Kassandra refused to see it. He wanted to help her because Ruby was important to Kassandra. He was doing it for Kassandra.

And that scared her even more.

"I don't need your help, Elijah," she replied coldly, quickly going to the defensive. "I don't need it and I don't want it."

Elijah seemed at a loss of words so she continued. "I'm not some weak little girl. I don't need some original vampire riding in on a white horse to save the day. I'm perfectly capable of rescuing Ruby on my own."

"_I never said-"_

"So thanks but no thanks, Elijah," she said. "Now I have a witch to go save."

Then she hung up on him, leaving him speechless.

_**~SYH~**_

After Kassandra had hung up on Elijah, Miles had called her back. Apparently Jackson's pack was known for hanging out at a bar ten blocks away from her apartment. So Kassandra headed there, not having a definite plan in her head. But she knew what she would be doing.

She'd start ripping out hearts until someone pointed her in the direction of Ruby. Then she'd kill the rest and grab the witch. Then she'd by her friend a couple dozen drinks.

When she walked into the bar, she knew almost immediately that everyone was a werewolf. She knew their scent, they smelled different than humans, witches, and vampires. She had a feeling that everyone knew she was a vampire, because all eyes went to her.

She counted about ten werewolves as an older man approached her. He watched her with wary eyes, and Kassandra couldn't help but smirk back at him. "Can I help you, sweetheart?" he asked.

"You sure can," she replied in a voice as smooth silk. Then she plunged her hand into his chest and ripped his heart out.

Gasps echoed around the room as the werewolf fell dead to the floor and Kassandra dropped his heart next to him. The rest of the wolves stood, muscles tensed, as they waited for her to strike again.

"So, this is how it's going to go," she said, addressing all of them. "You're going to go get the witch and bring her to me. Every minute she's not in front of me, someone dies. Sound like a plan?"

"You came for the witch?" another man stepped forward.

"I believe that's what I just said." She rolled her eyes at his stupidity.

"What would a vamp want with a witch?" he continued.

"Now that's none of your business," she said. Then she looked at the clock that was on the wall. "You have twenty seconds left before someone else dies."

"She attacked Jackson," another spoke up. "We're not just gonna let it slide."

"Fifteen seconds," Kassandra said, ignoring his words.

"Wait a second," a woman said, looking at Kassandra suddenly. She was blonde and familiar looking. "I know who you are."

"Ten seconds."

"That's the vampire whore Jackson cheated on me with!" she exclaimed, and Kassandra snapped her head towards the woman. It was Heidi, Jackson's fiancée.

"We've been waiting for you, honey," another werewolf said.

She narrowed her eyes. "Ooh, time's run out and I still don't see Ruby."

Then she blurred to the nearest werewolf and ripped his heart out.

They all reacted at that second. Some went to grab her, but Kassandra thought they were way out of their league. It wasn't the full moon, so they couldn't bite her. And that was really the only threat werewolves had against vampires.

Every time a wolf tried to stake her or restrain her, she ripped their hearts out. Bodies and hearts alike dropped to the floor. Kassandra was sure she'd have to kill all of the werewolves in the room when suddenly someone stabbed a needle into her arm.

Kassandra suddenly became weaker, and she knew what she was being injected with. Vervain. Still, she was almost a thousand years old; it'd take more than just a syringe of vervain to take her down.

She turned her body to see who was injecting her with the plant, and her eyes widened when she saw that it was Jackson. He didn't say anything, didn't even look her in the eye. Kassandra gritted her teeth in anger and lunged for his throat when she was injected with another syringe.

One syringe of vervain might've not been enough to take Kassandra down, but two was.

The last thing she saw before she passed out was Jackson, supporting her body before just letting her collapse to the ground entirely.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: Storylover, Lady Wesker, delenawolves, jamiecarterannie, SomebodyWhoCares, sPaRkzZz, Katherine Sparrow, and Lady Syndra for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	18. Knight in Shining Armor

**Chapter seventeen**

_Knight in Shining Armor_

Kassandra groaned as she became conscious again. Her mind was still disconnected from the rest of her body, and her eyes blearily looked around the room. She noted that it was dark and stuffy, the air was heavy with dust, and the place reeked of mold. But she mostly focused on how completely drained of energy she felt.

She was leaning forward, and she was sure that she would've collapsed to the floor, if she hadn't been chained to the wall. Heavy shackles weighed down her wrists and were connected to chains that were bolted to the ceiling. She was hanging from her arms only, and her shoulders quickly became sore.

"You okay, Kass?"

From across the room, Ruby was tied to a chair with rope, and Kassandra pushed away the relief of seeing her alive with the complaint of how the witch got off easy. Her arms were killing her.

"I've been better," she replied, as she studied her best friend, looking to see what those damned werewolves had done to her. She could make out purplish bruises on her face, and Kassandra gritted her teeth in anger. This was Jackson's fault. It was all his fault. Already, she was planning his death, and in her head, it was drawn out for years. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

"Though, I do feel like I'm taking part in a really bad porno," she added, frowning distastefully at the chains. Once the vervain was out of her system, she'd be able to snap them like twigs.

"Hey, at least you haven't been a punching bag for the last fourteen hours," Ruby retorted, and Kassandra was blinded by rage for one second.

Whenever anyone asked her about people she was close to, Kassandra always said nobody. She always answered that she didn't care about anyone besides herself, because whenever you cared about somebody, your enemies used it against you. They harmed the people you loved. Loving was a weakness and Kassandra had always found it easier to just not care at all.

But Ruby was her friend, her _best _friend. She was a great friend, and Kassandra cared about her. Hell, if Kassandra hadn't been as closed up as she was, she might have even admitted to loving Ruby like a sister. And the fact that the dogs had been beating her up made Kassandra want to slaughter every werewolf on the planet.

It unnerved her, how even when she had put up the façade of not giving a damn, her enemies still managed to find her one weakness.

"Ruby…" Kassandra sighed, looking to the witch. "I- I'm… I didn't… what I'm trying to say is-"

"As much as I would love to watch you choke out an apology Kass," Ruby said, a slight smirk visible on her lips even in the dim light, "It's not necessary. You did nothing wrong."

She sighed again. That wasn't true. The last twenty four hours had been Kassandra repeatedly screwing up. The wolves went after Ruby because she defended Kassandra. They took her because Kassandra was too busy fucking Elijah to help her. And then her rescue mission, thinking about it now, was laughable. Kassandra was a fuck up by nature, she was used to this by now.

"Come on Kass," Ruby said, bringing her attention back to her. "You don't do guilt, alright? So don't even bother. We'll get a way out of this, okay?"

Kassandra nodded slightly. She didn't do guilt well. When she fucked up, she admitted it to herself, accepted it, then got over it. She didn't dwell on it. So that was what she tried to do now- get over it.

"Now how we're going to get out of this, I don't know," Ruby continued. "Because you went about 'rescuing' me in an entirely wrong way. And let's not call it rescuing, okay? Because that implies that I'm some helpless maiden locked up in a castle."

"First of all, Rubes," Kassandra said, frowning. "You haven't been a maiden in eight years." Ruby just shrugged. "Secondly, if you have a problem with my rescuing skills, I just won't bother next time."

"Hey, it's not fault you were a complete dumbass," Ruby retorted, and Kassandra glared at her.

"I wasn't a _complete _dumbass," she defended herself.

"Did you have any plan whatsoever?" Ruby asked skeptically.

"I had a plan," she said. "It was really easy too. Walk into the bar and start ripping out hearts until they handed you over."

"And how did that work out for you?" Ruby asked sarcastically.

"It was going just fine until that ass hat decided to inject me with vervain," she practically growled.

"And why didn't you bring Wolfsbane with you?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow. "You know where my secret stash of herbs is."

"Huh," Kassandra said, frowning. "That didn't even occur to me."

"Right, because you're a dumbass."

"You know what, Witchy? About five seconds away from going over there and draining you dry," Kassandra threatened.

"You just try to, Vampy," Ruby said, eyes narrowed. "You're not going anywhere right now. Not when you're strung up like a vampire chandelier."

"Don't remind me," Kassandra growled, swinging her body in an attempt to try to break the chains. The iron wasn't budging, though.

"I'm surprised Elijah wasn't a part of this rescue mission, though," Ruby said with a frown, returning to their previous conversation.

Kassandra's eyes widened at the mention of him. "And why would you think that?" she muttered.

"Well, I just thought he'd be willing to assist his fuck buddy in retrieving her witchy best friend from a pack of wolves," Ruby explained, frowning at the look on Kassandra's face.

"What aren't you telling me, Kass?" she asked slowly, eyes narrowing.

"It's no big deal," Kassandra muttered. "It's not like he would have been much help anyway."

"Kassandra," Ruby hissed. "Tell me. Now."

She sighed. "Okay, okay! Elijah did want to help me. He sort of insisted it. But I might have told him I didn't need him to be the knight in shining armor and ride in on his white horse to save the day." She bit her lip as she measured Ruby's reaction.

Her brown eyes bulged as she glared openly at Kassandra. "Why? Why? Why would you refuse help from motherfucking _original, _Kassandra?" she exclaimed. "_What is wrong with you?"_

"I thought I had the situation under control!" she shot back.

"Well, you don't," Ruby said bluntly. "You don't have anything under control. You completely dropped the ball, Kass."

"I swear to God, I'm leaving you here to rot next time," Kassandra muttered, more to herself than to Ruby.

"_Will you two shut up?"_

Kassandra heard footsteps stomp down stairs, and then an old door a few feet away from Ruby creaked open. And out from the shadows came Heidi, glaring daggers at Kassandra the moment she saw her.

"Werebitch," Kassandra said in a pleasant voice, her eyes icy as she stared at Jackson's fiancée. "Fancy seeing you here."

_**~SYH~**_

Elijah sighed, but despite his best efforts, he was worried about Kassandra. She hadn't answered her phone in three hours. He knew that she could just be ignoring him, but he doubted it. He had a gut feeling that she was in trouble.

And he had the strong urge to get her out of that trouble.

But Elijah knew Kassandra didn't want him too. He knew that Kassandra hated feeling like she wasn't capable of doing something. And if his gut was wrong and she wasn't in trouble, she'd hate him for trying to save the day.

But was her annoyance really worth the risk that he was right?

Elijah didn't know the exact moment Kassandra became somebody he wanted to keep in his life, for as long as possible, but she was. wasn't just because they had sex- very good sex. It was more than that. He enjoyed her- her presence, her personality. And he didn't know if he had crossed that dangerous line of having romantic feelings for her, but he cared about her. He did. It was completely terrible timing, with everything going on. But Elijah cared for Kassandra.

And Elijah Mikaelson protected the people he cared about.

_**~SYH~**_

"You know, I've been dreaming of the day I'd get to do this since all those months ago when Jackson told me he had been having an affair with a _vampire."_

Kassandra rolled her eyes. "Honey, if I had a dollar for every person who wanted to torture me-" she was cut off with a groan when Heidi roughly jammed a stake into her stomach.

"Hey!" Ruby exclaimed, looking alarmed as she brought Heidi's attention back to herself. "Let's not forget that I was the one who attacked Jackson."

"Ruby, _shut up," _Kassandra wheezed, glaring at her friend. "I heal, you don't."

"Please," Heidi said with a roll of her eyes. "If it was me, you wouldn't even be here," she said, addressing Ruby. "Anyone who takes Jackson down a peg is cool with me. I just wanted _her." _She glared at Kassandra.

"What, bad breakup?" Kassandra muttered, the wound in her stomach already healed.

"No, we're still engaged to be married, not that it's any of your business," Heidi growled.

She raised an eyebrow at the werewolf. "Why would you stay with a guy who cheated on you?"

"Please," she scoffed. "Like Jackson's father would let one little affair get in the way of two of the most important werewolf bloodlines uniting."

Then she looked at Kassandra with hostile eyes. "But if you weren't such a little slut," she hissed. "I wouldn't be doomed to an unhappy marriage. _This is your fault."_

Blood splattered against the wall as Heidi rammed her stake into Kassandra's throat. She gurgled on her own blood, the pain feeling white hot. Then Heidi pulled the stake out and her throat healed.

"Oh, there's plenty more where that came from, you little-" Heidi started to say.

"_Heidi. That's enough."_

Jackson pushed the door open and marched into the basement, glaring at Heidi as he walked up to them. Several werewolves walked in after him, all of them eying Kassandra warily. She smirked at them, knowing that the oldest man was Jackson's father by the way he looked at her extra hard.

"Nice for you to join us," she said, eyes hard as she stared at Jackson. The bastard couldn't even look her in the eyes. "I'd hate for you to miss the show."

Heidi gritted her teeth and went to attack Kassandra again, but a cold voice stopped her. "Heidi," a man standing at the pack leader's side, and she was sure it was her father. "Go upstairs."

"But dad-" she whined.

"Now."

She growled, her eyes flashing angrily one more time at Kassandra before she left the basement.

A sinking feeling hit Kassandra's stomach at the sight of all the important members of the pack standing before her. She knew it wasn't a good thing. It was a bad sign.

She was sure it meant that either her or Ruby were about to die. Possibly both.

An idea came to Kassandra's mind. It was merely something to get them more time, but she was sure it would work. And the reaction from Jackson would be priceless.

"You know," she drawled, eyes roaming around the room almost lazily. "I do have somebody out there who's not going to be too pleased you took me and the witch."

Jackson's father snorted. "Oh, really?" he said skeptically.

"Yeah," Kassandra said, acting as if she hadn't heard the sarcasm in his voice. "He's a bit overprotective of me. I bet he's out there, looking right now."

"And who's looking for you?" one of the werewolves asked.

"His name's Elijah. He's one of the first of my kind. Maybe you heard of him?"

The effect of her namedropping Elijah was priceless. All the men tensed, going silent instantly. They clearly knew who he was.

"And why would an original be looking for you?" Jackson spoke in a hollow voice, looking at her for the first time.

"Well, he likes having Kass around," Ruby spoke up, playing along. "She is pretty good in bed, after all. You should know that, Jackson."

Jackson went pale and his eyes widened. Kassandra smirked at him. "What can I say? I seriously moved up on the food chain when it comes to the men I sleep with."

"You're lying," Jackson breathed.

"She's not."

Kassandra's eyes widened in surprise at the sight Elijah. His eyes flickered to her for a brief second before he ripped out the pack leader's heart.

Chaos happened after that swift movement. But Elijah had the situation under control. Not even ten seconds had passed and the only werewolf left alive in the room was Jackson. He was breathing hard with fear and was lying on his back.

Elijah walked over to Kassandra, carefully sidestepping the corpses, and reached up to break the chains holding her to the ceiling. His arm wrapped around her waist to stop her from falling to the ground. When Kassandra was firmly on her own feet, he removed his arm, the tension was still tangible between them.

Kassandra removed the shackles from her wrists, her arms aching from being suspended from the ceiling. She looked to Jackson, knowing without a doubt that Elijah had left him alive for her.

She stalked towards him, much like a lioness towards her prey. She hadn't known how much she had wanted to kill Jackson until that moment. Rage was running through her veins, and even a thousand deaths wouldn't satisfy the need for revenge within her.

She bent down, crouching next to him. Her eyes never left Jackson's, as she practically forced him to look at her. She wanted to watch the light go out of his eyes when she killed him. Jackson stared back at her, almost out of defiance. Kassandra felt no reluctance to rip his beating heart out.

"You deserve this," she whispered. Then her hand plunged into his chest. With a flick of her wrist, the light went out of his eyes. Kassandra deposited his heart on the ground next to him.

When she stood up, her left hand still covered in blood, she found Elijah looking at her. There were a million things she should have said to him, and a thousand things she wanted to. But instead of speaking a word, of apologizing, of thanking him, Kassandra just nodded.

It was a small gesture, but Elijah knew exactly what it meant.

Because, sometimes, actions spoke louder than words.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: his last cigarette, KurisutaruAi, BarbarafromGR, Luna064, delenawolves, SomebodyWhoCares, jamiecarterannie, sPaRkzZz, Lady Syndra, and Lovely Rain Dancer for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	19. Feelings

**Chapter eighteen**

_Feelings_

"You're not gonna tell your mom what happened?"

Ruby rolled her eyes at Kassandra as they prepared the bar for business. A few days had passed since Elijah had slaughtered every member of the largest werewolf pack in North America, all just to save Kassandra and Ruby. The witch wanted to move on, to forgive and forget, but Kassandra wasn't so keen on that. She would forever hold a grudge against werewolves.

"Why worry her any more than necessary?" Ruby replied, scrubbing down the bar. "And give her more reasons to hate you?"

"God knows she doesn't lack any of those," Kassandra muttered as she wiped glasses.

Ruby raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Have you talked to Elijah lately?" she asked in a knowing tone.

Kassandra rolled her eyes. "Do you mean have I actually talked to Elijah lately or have I spent any nights in his bed lately?"

"Both," Ruby answered.

"I haven't done either," Kassandra said. "I haven't seen him since he played hero."

The witch frowned at her vampire friend. "Have you said thank you to him yet?" she asked, staring pointedly at her.

Kassandra sighed. "Not technically, no."

When Ruby gave her a look, she rolled her eyes again. "Elijah _knows _I'm thankful, Ruby," she explained. Kassandra had never been one for saying thank you. She thought words cheapened the actual feeling. She sucked when it came to words, to expressing herself.

"Did you apologize then?" Ruby said, her frown deepening.

Kassandra gave her a look. "What do you think, Ruby?"

She sighed. "Well, I think you should," she said.

She raised an eyebrow. "And why is that?"

"Just because you know you're thankful doesn't mean he does, Kass," she explained.

She shook her head. "Elijah knows, Ruby, trust me," she repeated.

"Fine, whatever you say, Kass," Ruby said in a disbelieving tone, and Kassandra tried to not become frustrated with her friend.

But she knew she should see Elijah soon, that she _wanted _to. It wasn't that she missed him, exactly. Kassandra didn't _miss _people, especially originals she had only slept with a handful of times. But she wanted to see him, sometime soon. She just didn't want Ruby to know that.

"What are you two, exactly?" Ruby asked suddenly, and Kassandra tried not to sigh again.

"We've had this conversation before, Ruby," she said, in a tone that made it clear she didn't want to have it again.

"I know, I know, you two are fuck buddies, but… you're telling me there are no real feelings there?" Ruby asked skeptically.

"I mean, I _like _Elijah. I'd guess I'd say we're friends. Yeah, we are. We're friends who are attracted to each other physically," Kassandra explained, nodding along with herself.

"That's not what I meant Kassandra, and you know it," Ruby said.

"What? Are you asking if I'm_ in_ _love _with Elijah?" She rolled her eyes, scoffing at the idea.

But with the look Ruby shot her, Kassandra realized that her friend was being serious. "Ruby, I don't have _feelings _for Elijah," she objected. "And he doesn't have feelings for me."

"Really? Because I don't know many people who would slaughter an entire pack of werewolves for a fuck buddy," Ruby shot back.

"Maybe the sex is just that good," Kassandra said, and Ruby rolled her eyes.

"You know, out of all the men and vampires in the world, Elijah is one of the good ones, Kass," Ruby said quietly. "And I think that he does have feelings for you, even if neither of you know it."

Kassandra didn't look at Ruby as the witch left to go take care of the other end of the bar. Her friend was so convinced that whatever she and Elijah had would develop into something real, something like _love._

And even though Kassandra didn't believe in love, and didn't welcome it into her life, she grudgingly admitted to herself that, if she had to be in love with anybody, Elijah would be her top choice.

_**~SYH~**_

It was starting to snow in New York, causing brown slush to clog the streets and puddles to make Kassandra's shoes wet. And even though actual New York in the winter differed from the movie versions, it could actually be quite beautiful at times.

Kassandra had never been one for snow. It was cold and wet and caused water stains on her precious heels and boots. She preferred the summer, when she could wear low necklines without getting called a whore. Still, as she walked through the streets and fat flakes fell into her hair, she had to admit that there was something attractive about winter.

It wasn't until a few days after her talk with Ruby that Kassandra actually went to see Elijah. Even though she didn't necessarily expect sex, Kassandra still put on some of her best lingerie and made sure she didn't look like a dog. It was better to be safe than sorry.

As she walked down the hallway of his apartment building, Kassandra looked up at Elijah's door, only to see him walking out of it. She stopped in her place as he looked up at her. His eyebrows raised slightly in surprise at the sight of her.

"Hi," Kassandra said finally, pushing a wavy strand of hair out of her face.

Elijah nodded. "Hello," he said.

Kassandra shifted her feet awkwardly. "Uh, I just- I wanted to stop by to say… some things, but if you're busy-" she trailed off. Because she came here to say thank you and to apologize, two things she wasn't fond of. And if she could put it off for another decade or two, she would've been grateful.

"No, I'm not busy," Elijah said almost quickly. "I just am going to visit a witch who might be of some use to me." He studied Kassandra for a moment. "You can come along, if you'd like. You might even be helpful, given your history with magic."

Kassandra tried to stay far away from witches- Ruby being the exception- but she found herself speaking without the permission of her brain. "Sure," she said, too quickly and sounding to eager. To contradict this, she added, "I have nothing else going on anyways."

The corner of Elijah's mouth twitched in slight amusement. He walked towards the exit, Kassandra joining his side as he passed her. "Though I'm not sure that I'll be much help," she said, her mouth pursing in thought. "It's been awhile since I've practiced magic."

"Even so," Elijah said, not sounding disappointed with her. She was sure he even expected this answer. "What you lack in knowledge, you make up for in company."

Kassandra did catch a smile from the original as he pressed the button on the elevator. Her eyebrows furrowed and she narrowed her eyes at him. He was teasing her. Kassandra was surly and bitter and aloof. Most of the words that came out of her mouth were sarcastic and patronizing. She was hardly good company. The bastard was making fun of her.

But before she could come up with a witty retort, the elevator doors opened with a ding, and Elijah made a gesture towards the empty lift. "After you, Kassandra."

She shot him a glare, to let him know that she was aware of his teasing and that he wouldn't get away with it, before she walked past him into the elevator.

Kassandra didn't even stop to consider that Elijah was being partially serious.

_**~SYH~**_

"What's the witch's name?" Kassandra asked as the two walked towards an old warehouse, where they were meeting the witch.

"She didn't tell me," he replied. "Not her real name. She told me to call her Lenore. She wants to keep as much anonymity between us as possible. That is why we are meeting at a warehouse and not her actual home."

This whole situation was unnerving Kassandra. She didn't like the idea of this "Lenore". The witch gave her bad vibes.

"How'd you find out about her?" Kassandra asked, wiping snow off her face. It was snowing lightly and speckling both of the vampires with white that melted almost as soon as it came in contact with their skin or clothes.

"My brother, Niklaus, is still in contact with a few witches," he explained. "From when he had been trying to break his curse. He got in contact with one witch who told him about another witch who told him about Lenore. And since she lives in New York, I'm visiting her."

Kassandra remembered Niklaus, from their human days. She remembered the way he would watch Tatia, eyes full of the kind of devotion she still didn't understand. Kassandra also remembered that Elijah used to look at Tatia the same way.

An unpleasant feeling filled her at the thought, of how in love Elijah had been with her old friend. It was a bitter feeling and she didn't like it. Kassandra didn't want to think that it was jealousy. Why would she be jealous of Elijah and Tatia? Tatia was long dead and she didn't like Elijah in the way that would cause jealousy. So she definitely wasn't jealous.

"Does she know you're an original?" Kassandra asked, trying to forget her previous thoughts.

"Yes, she does," Elijah said, frowning at the look on Kassandra's face. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," Kassandra said with a shake of her head. "Why would you ask?"

"Because you don't seem so sure of Lenore."

Kassandra let out a sigh. "I don't trust witches," she said bluntly. "And I don't like that this one _knows _what you are and still agreed to meet you."

"I thought so too," Elijah said with nod. "It seemed out of nature for a witch."

Kassandra looked up at him. surprised. "And you're still agreeing to meet her?"

"I've dealt with more powerful witches than the one we're about to see," Elijah explained. "I will be able to handle myself in the situation takes a turn for the worst."

Kassandra nodded. As long as he was prepared.

When they reached the warehouse, Elijah easily broke the lock on the door and then held it open for her. Kassandra walked inside, and at first it was pitch black and smelled like rat poop and dead homeless people. But after her eyes adjusted, she noticed the light coming from the other end of the building.

She walked towards it, Elijah two steps behind her. When they got close enough, Kassandra saw a woman, probably in her late twenties, with a dark curtain of hair blocking her face. She was standing at a table that had lit candles on it. In the center of the table was the witch's Grimoire. It was old and worn, and the witch was flipping through it with ginger fingers.

She looked up at the sight of the two approaching vampires. Kassandra barely made out the witch's face before she stepped into the shadows.

"You were supposed to come alone," Lenore rang out in an ominous tone, but Kassandra wasn't impressed.

"Oh, don't mind me," she said in a patronizing tone. "I'm just here to observe."

"I hope you won't mind," Elijah said, watching Lenore with cautious eyes.

"You were supposed to come alone," the witch repeated. "I do not know who she is."

"Call me… Gabriella," Kassandra said after a brief pause. If Lenore was going to use a fake name, so would she. And her mother's name was the first that came to her.

Kassandra circled the witch's table slowly, studying what was on it. Next to the spell book was a long silver knife and a small glass jar. Her eyes flickered back to the Grimoire, and she frowned at the familiarity of it.

"I know of a solution to your problems," Lenore said to Elijah, ignoring Kassandra.

"Then by all means…" Elijah gestured for her to tell him the solution, as Kassandra edged closer to the table, her eyes set on the Grimoire.

"All I need is your blood," Lenore said, not explaining her solution. Kassandra stopped at the mention of blood. "Yours and your siblings'."

She looked up at Lenore. "Why?" she said in a suspicious tone.

The witch rolled her eyes at Kassandra. "To unbind them, I need to lift the spell from their blood," she said, as if it was obvious.

"And how do we know that's all you'll do with it?" Kassandra retorted.

Lenore narrowed her eyes at her. "And what are you suggesting I would use it for?"

"Anything and everything," she shot back, gritting her teeth. She didn't like the little bitch, she didn't trust her.

"Vampire blood is tainted," Lenore said, nose wrinkling slightly.

"Vampire blood is _powerful," _Kassandra corrected. "And the older the vampire, the stronger their blood is. Who knows what you could use it for. Black magic, necromancy, expression…" she trailed off.

Lenore's eyes widened. "You're a witch," she breathed, taking a step back from her.

"I _was," _Kassandra said rather darkly.

The witch's eyes widened even more. _"Kassandra Patrikson," _she mouthed, but it was enough to cause Kassandra to go rigid.

Lenore knew who she was. And that just made her even more of a suspicious character.

Kassandra narrowed her eyes at the Grimoire once more, and then, in a flash, she blurred to the table and grabbed the spell book. Her eyes widened at the familiar sigil on the cover, recognizing who's it really was. Then her head exploded in pain.

Kassandra let out a loud gasp, falling to her knees. The Grimoire clattered to the floor next to her as Kassandra clutched her head. She gritted her teeth, the pain unbearable. It only proved that the witch was a powerful one, if she could take down someone as old as her.

"_Don't touch it!" _Lenore screeched.

Suddenly, the pain was gone. Kassandra let out a sigh of relief as she rubbed her temples. She grabbed the Grimoire as she stood up. When she looked up, Elijah was holding Lenore up by her neck, and the witch was gasping for air.

"Are you alright?" He asked her, and Kassandra shifted uncomfortably at the concern in his eyes. She wasn't used to people caring about her, save for Ruby.

She nodded briskly, not meeting his eyes. Then she held out the spell book. "It's your mother's," she told him, gesturing to the sigil that marked the cover. "I recognize it from when my mother and yours used to practice magic together. She's working with Finn and Esther."

Elijah's eyes flashed with recognition as he studied the Grimoire. He knew it was Esther's too.

He stared at the witch in his grasp with hard eyes. "I would be very careful with the next words that came out of your mouth," he told her harshly.

"She- she doesn't know I took it," Lenore gasped. "Please- I'll tell you anything you want to know."

Elijah looked at Kassandra then, his grip on Lenore relaxing. "Well then," he said, dropping the witch to the floor. "You turned out to be helpful after all."

_**~SYH~**_

"I'm returning to Mystic Falls."

It was hours later, and Elijah and Kassandra were standing in an alley beside his apartment. Lenore was locked in a room somewhere where she couldn't escape, waiting for Elijah to take care of her.

Kassandra frowned at him. "What? Why?"

"I need to deal with Lenore with my siblings," he said. "So that we can get as much information about what Esther and Finn are up to as possible."

"Are you… coming back?" Kassandra hoped she didn't sound too upset, but she wasn't sure.

Elijah nodded, and Kassandra hated how relieved she felt. "I'll be back in a few days or so," he said. "New York has things that Mystic Falls can't offer me."

Kassandra fidgeted again, shifting awkwardly under Elijah's intense stare. "Well, I wish you the best of luck," she said.

He nodded, eyes drifting away from her almost disappointedly, like he wished she had said something else. "I'll see you soon, Kassandra," he said finally, walking away from her slowly.

"Wait."

Elijah paused and turned back around to face her. "Thank you," she said honestly, looking him in the eyes.

He arched an eyebrow at her. "What for?"

"For… saving me," she said slowly, as if the words hurt coming out. She hated admitting that she needed help, but Elijah needed to hear it, so that he wouldn't stop saving her when she needed him to. "Both times. And all the future times to come."

The corner of Elijah's mouth twitched in amusement. "You're welcome."

Before she could stop herself, Kassandra blurred to Elijah and brought his head down to hers. Her lips crashed against his, and her lips were warm and soft while his were cool. Elijah's fingers brushed against her face before she pulled away.

"See you in a few days," Kassandra told him, more dazed from the kiss than she would ever admit to anyone, even herself.

"See you in a few days," Elijah repeated in a low voice, looking at Kassandra almost longingly, like he wished she hadn't pulled away.

Kassandra looked away from him then and hastily left the alley.

She wouldn't tell Ruby anything that had happened that night. She couldn't. It would only convince the witch even more that she and Elijah had feelings for each other.

And that just couldn't be true. Kassandra couldn't be having feelings again.

Especially not with how it turned out last time.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **The next few chapters are gonna be about the developing feelings between Elijah and Kassandra. Can you guys guess who's gonna admit their feelings first?

Thank you to: delenawolves, Lady Syndra, Guest, Lotheriel, Lovely Rain Dancer, SomebodyWhoCares, jamiecarterannie, Peace and Luv, Guest, Kat7CA, and bettingonalice01for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	20. Distance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

**Chapter Nineteen**

_Distance Makes The Heart Grow Fonder_

"Kass! Wake up!"

Kassandra groaned and pulled her blanket over her head. It was too early- she was too tired. Ruby could go fuck herself.

"Kassandra, I'll curse your ass if you're not up in ten seconds," Ruby threatened, pulling the shades up, letting sunlight in the room. She hissed and shut her eyes tighter.

"I'll kill you and your entire family, Ruby," she mumbled, mind still caked with sleep. "Get out."

"Ten, nine, eight-"

"Fuck you," she muttered, putting her pillow over her head.

"Seven, six, five-"

"Ruby, I'm not joking."

"Four, three, two, one-"

"Ruby Amelia-" Kassandra was cut off when the blood in her veins suddenly turned to fire.

Her eyes flew open and a scream tore from her throat. It was over before it started though, and no real damage was done. She whirled around and narrowed her eyes at Ruby. The witch smirked back at her, blue eyes full of mirth.

In a flash, Kassandra had Ruby pinned to the floor and let out a snarl, her fangs popping out of her mouth. The witch didn't look afraid; she just rolled her eyes at the vampire.

"Get off me- your breath stinks," she muttered, and Kassandra sat up and allowed Ruby to stand up.

"Why are you bothering me at-" Kassandra stood up and checked the alarm clock. "Seven o'clock in the morning?"

Ruby shrugged. "I was bored," she answered simply. "And I assumed you would be too."

She raised an eyebrow at her friend. "Why would you assume that?"

"Because Elijah's gone."

Kassandra let out a sigh. She was sick and tired of Ruby saying that she and Elijah were madly in love with each other. "My life doesn't revolve around him, Rubes," she reminded her.

"It has as of late," the witch corrected her, her nose wrinkling as she sidestepped a bra on the floor. Kassandra was a slob.

Kassandra opened her mouth to utter a witty retort, only to figure out that what she said was very true. She shut it and sighed. "It's not like I miss him or anything," she mumbled. "The world keeps spinning even with Elijah Mikaelson missing from New York City."

"Come on, Kass, not even a little bit?" Ruby raised an eyebrow.

Kassandra shook her head. "Nope."

"Not the accent? The suits? The badass quality?" Ruby asked.

"No."

"The deep, thoughtful conversations? The intense eye humping?"

"Nada," Kassandra answered, nose wrinkling at the term 'eye humping'.

"The sex?" Ruby smirked at her friend.

Kassandra paused. "…no," she answered, sounding hesitant.

Ruby smirked victoriously but shrugged. "If you say so, Kass." Then she eyed the vampire's pajamas. "But if you don't miss him- at all- why are you wearing his shirt?"

Kassandra looked down at her body to see that she was, indeed, wearing one of Elijah's shirts. It was the shirt she had taken home after their first night together. She had no memory of putting it on last night. She had gotten wasted off a bottle of scotch and must've found it and slipped it on in her drunken haze.

Maybe, deep in her subconscious, she really did miss Elijah.

Kassandra glared at Ruby, the triumphant grin on the witch's face too much to take. But Ruby was already strutting out of her bedroom, heading towards the kitchen.

"Come on Vampy," she called over her shoulder. "I'll make you breakfast and you can tell me all about your heartsickness over Elijah being gone."

Kassandra shot her a death glare before stalking after her friend.

_**~SYH~**_

The screams of Lenore eventually all melted together, and all Elijah heard was a high pitched noise. For the past thirty three hours, his siblings and he had been trying their best to get Lenore to talk, using any means possible. But the witch refused to talk.

Elijah shifted as Lenore went silent. A few seconds later, Klaus came out of the separate, windowless room in the basement they had been keeping her in. He was drenched in the witch's blood, as all his siblings had been. Only Elijah knew how to not make a mess when it came to torture. All of his siblings lacked proper manners.

"She's not saying anything," Klaus growled, angry and frustrated.

"Give it time, Niklaus," Elijah said patiently. "She will, eventually."

Klaus just growled again before stalking out of the basement, letting Elijah know that it was his turn with Lenore. Elijah silently made his way into the bloody room, letting the door close silently behind him.

Lenore was just a mass of skin and blood clumped in a chair. Niklaus had clearly taken his anger out on her. Elijah didn't feel an ounce of sympathy for her.

Despite her injuries, Lenore looked up at him and a twisted smile flickered to life on her face. "I will never tell any of you anything," she declared, her voice sounding similar to a smoker's.

"We will see," Elijah answered cryptically, studying the bloody witch. "Do you even know what Esther and Finn plan?" he was starting to doubt it. Maybe the witch was just messing with them.

Lenore let out a cold laugh. "Oh, I know exactly what they are planning. Down to the last detail." Lenore's eyes glittered maliciously. "I know she _loathes _all of you. She wants all of you to pay for what you've done with your lives. She wishes she never gave birth to such _monsters."_

Elijah didn't even blink. He wouldn't let Lenore try to get to him, especially with using his mother's hatred of him.

"Esther told me that you are supposedly the moral one, the honorable one." She laughed humorlessly. "Please, I have seen trash with more morals and honor than you possess."

Elijah didn't reply. Did Lenore really think she could get under his skin? He wasn't his siblings. He had his temper strongly under control. She couldn't unravel his nerves.

"Where is the vampire who was with you? Kassandra Patrikson, I believe she was," Lenore asked curiously.

"How did you know who she was?" Elijah countered, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, Esther told me _all _about her," she said sinisterly, causing Elijah to frown.

"She was a witch," Lenore started. "And refused to help Esther kill you. Your mother isn't even sure why. Oh, and she knows that you have a soft spot for her."

He stiffened, and Lenore smirked before continuing. "Did you really think Esther wouldn't know if you slaughtered an entire wolf pack for one irrelevant vampire?"

He took a step forward. "What does my mother have planned for Kassandra?" he asked in a low voice.

Her smirk grew. "Oh, does Elijah have a crush?" she teased. "He does! Oh, does Kassie make you feel alive again, 'Lijah? Does she make you feel human? Do you love her?"

Elijah held back a growl and stalked forward, digging his fingers into her shoulders. "What does she have planned for Kassandra?" he repeated, brown eyes darkening.

Lenore lost all the mirth in her face. "She's going to kill her," she said in a low voice. "She's going to use her as bait for you and draw you out. Then she's going to kill Kassandra in the most brutal way she can imagine, right in front of you, only to kill you and your siblings after."

She leaned forward, her voice going soft as she spoke. "You should know better than to have a weakness outside of your family, Elijah."

He gritted his teeth, using all of his restraint not to snap her neck right then and there. Before he could give himself the chance, Elijah pulled back from the witch and strode towards the door. When he opened it, Rebekah was standing there with her arms crossed and he knew she had heard everything.

Elijah didn't even acknowledge his sister before walking past her. He had no time for Rebekah, and he knew everything he was going to say to him.

"Did you really let yourself care for Shirt Girl enough that she became a weakness, Elijah?" she called, striding after him. "Especially with everything going on with Mo- Esther?"

He stopped walking, but didn't look at his sister. After a few beats of silence, he finally spoke. "Yes," Elijah said. "I did."

"How selfish of you," Rebekah said, less of a judgment and more of an observation.

"Yes," Elijah said slowly. "I suppose it is."

Then, without another word, Elijah walked away, not feeling an ounce of guilt for his selfishness.

_**~SYH~**_

"Have you been having any nightmares lately? About Peter?"

Kassandra frowned as she picked at her chocolate chip pancakes. "No, I haven't," she answered. "Not since Elijah came into my life."

Ruby started smirking, and Kassandra rolled her eyes. "There's no connection between the two, Ruby," she said. "It's a coincidence."

"Sure it is," Ruby replied.

Kassandra set her fork down and glared at the witch. "Let me guess, my undying love for Elijah cured me of the nightmares?" she said sarcastically.

"I was actually thinking that Elijah distracted you from your self-loathing and guilt over your little brother."

She looked down at her plate. "I think I prefer my theory," she muttered.

Ruby sighed, but clearly didn't want to back off of the subject. "I originally thought that Peter _was _haunting you, Kass," she said quietly. "So I did some research. Your nightmares, they're not supernatural, they're psychological. You have them because you feel guilty. And I think Elijah and his family issues distracted you from that guilt, so you stopped having nightmares. I mean, when's the last time you thought of Peter?"

Kassandra frowned. "The day I ran into Elijah at the diner," she murmured.

"See? Elijah is the reason-"

"I don't want to talk about Peter anymore, Ruby," Kassandra said bluntly, standing up.

Ruby sighed. "Kass-"

"I mean it, Ruby," she snapped. "My dead brother isn't something I want to think about, okay?"

Usually Ruby would back off by now, but instead the witch narrowed her eyes at the vampire. "God, why are you so afraid of letting yourself be vulnerable for just five minutes, Kassandra? Why can't you just let me help you work through this?" she retorted, eyes narrowing.

Kassandra rolled her eyes. "I'm not a project, Ruby," she said. "I'm not some broken toy you can try to fix in your spare time. Maybe I just don't want to talk about Peter, okay?"

"You always do this," she snapped. "You always get defensive. Just open yourself up for one minute, Kass-"

"Why should I?" Kassandra retorted.

"Because when you keep pushing people away, Kassandra," Ruby said, glaring at her friend. "They'll eventually give up on you. And you'll be all alone, like you're so convinced you want to be."

Kassandra pursed her lips but didn't answer. Ruby sighed slowly. "I'll see myself out," she muttered, heading towards the door.

Kassandra didn't stop her. The door slammed shut, and then she was all alone, like she had been for most of her life, like she had convinced herself she wanted to be.

Because people were easier to deal with when they were kept at arms-length.

_**~SYH~**_

Kassandra hadn't known that the carpet in her living room was comfortable. She barely ever spent much time in her apartment, so she wouldn't know. But when she lay down on the cream colored floor, her legs propped up on the coffee table, she discovered that it was, indeed, like floating on a cloud.

There was a bottle of bourbon resting against her thigh, but it remained unopened. It was, after all, only nine in the morning. She wanted to wait until at least ten before she started drinking. When her phone started ringing, she assumed it to be Ruby. Without a second thought, she answered it and held it against her ear. "What?"

"_Kassandra."_

She frowned slightly. It was Elijah.

"Oh, Elijah," she said. "Hey."

"_How… are you?" _he asked.

"Fine, I suppose," she said. "You?"

"_Frustrated," _he answered.

Kassandra smiled slightly. "The witch giving you trouble?" she asked.

"_She's refusing to give us any useful information."_

"Is there anything she's said?" Kassandra said. "Maybe she said something in witch speak. I could try to translate."

"_Well, she was talking about you," _Elijah said, somewhat hesitantly.

Kassandra frowned. "Me? What did she say about me?"

Elijah paused, as if deciding what to tell her. _"Nothing much," _he said finally. _"Nothing important."_

He was hiding something from her. "Whatever you're keeping from me, Elijah, I can handle it."

He sighed. _"I'm not keeping anything from you, Kassandra."_

He was lying. "Right," she said skeptically. "Well, when you want to tell me the truth, you can call me back."

"_Kassandra-"_

She hung up on him, tossing the phone onto the ground next to her. Kassandra let out a sigh and closed her eyes.

Pushing people away was almost second nature to her by now.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: Guest, ThePhantomismyLove, Jamiecarterannie, Laura-LaLa, Meliissax3, Luna064, sPaRkzZz, Lovely Rain Dancer, Nightwing's Gal, SomebodyWhoCares, bettingonalice01, and delenawolves for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	21. Attached

**Chapter Twenty**

_Attached_

Kassandra went to work that night, mostly because she had nothing to do. That was why she bartended; not because she needed the money, but because she got bored and it was something to do.

Ruby was there, but the witch promptly ignored her as soon as she walked into the bar. She pretended Kassandra didn't exist. She knew Ruby wanted an apology, but she wouldn't get one out of her easily. Instead Kassandra just rolled her eyes and ignored her right back. Ruby could be so petty sometimes.

Elijah had called her back, multiple times, but she wasn't answering his calls. Kassandra hated being lied to or kept out of a secret. Especially when it was "for her own good". She'd talk to Elijah again when he decided to tell her the truth. She could be petty sometimes too.

Near the end of her shift, Kassandra finally hit her breaking point. She couldn't take Ruby ignoring her anymore. She was too self-centered to handle it. "Ruby, I'm sorry, okay? Just talk to me again!" she shouted at the witch in the middle of the bar, causing other waitresses and patrons to look at them oddly.

Ruby rolled her eyes. "You can't just say sorry and expect everything to be fine again, Kass. It doesn't work like that," she muttered. She was calling her "Kass" though; that was a good sign.

"What do you want me to do, Ruby? Right you a seven page paper about how awesome you are?" she said sarcastically, crossing her arms over her chest.

"That'd help, yeah." Ruby smirked up at her friend, and Kassandra rolled her eyes in response.

The witch sighed and shrugged, running a hand over her face. "I want you to be able to talk to me about deeper things than just sex and booze, Kassandra. I want you to talk to me about Peter, so that I can help you through it. That's what best friends do."

Kassandra groaned and tugged at her hair. Ruby was expecting too much from her. "I'm not… I'm not ready for that, Ruby," she muttered. "I don't like thinking about him, let alone talking about him." It had been a thousand years, but she wasn't ready to face Peter.

"Then he'll just haunt you for the rest of your life," Ruby said. "Do you really want that?"

"I want…" Kassandra sighed and squirmed uncomfortably. "I want this chick flick moment to be over. I want a bottle of Jack Daniels if we're really going to have this conversation. And I want this conversation to be held in the future, preferably not in the middle of a crowded bar."

Ruby looked disappointed, and for a moment Kassandra considered telling Ruby everything, just to get that look off of her face. But then it was gone, and Ruby was back to acting like old Ruby. "Fine, Kass. Whatever you say. I better get back to work anyway. Unlike you, I actually need my paycheck to survive."

Kassandra watched her walk away, knowing in her heart that Ruby wasn't going to let that one go anytime soon.

_**~SYH~**_

"_Kassie! Kassie! Come out, come out, wherever you are!"_

_Kassandra ran as fast as she could, her dress wrapping around her ankles and causing her to trip and stumble as she did. She gasped for air and was constantly looking over her shoulder. Branches scraped her arms and face, but she kept running._

"_Kassie! Don't run from me Kassie! Why are you hiding Kassie? Why?"_

_Kassandra tripped over a branch and fell to the ground, her hands and knees stinging from impact. A sob escaped her throat as she tried to crawl away, but she couldn't get very far. She could here Peter approaching her._

"_Kassie, don't leave me. You left me before, why are you doing it again? Kassie?"_

_Tears blinded Kassandra's vision. She was afraid, yet guilt and pain obstructed most of that fear. "I'm sorry Peter," she cried out. "I'm sorry. But please don't. Please!"_

"_Don't you want to be together forever, Kassie?" Her baby brother's voice seemed to echo around the entire forest. He was everywhere at once. "Why do you want me to be alone? Won't you join me Kassie? Won't you?"_

"_No, Peter! Don't." She blinked away tears, her throat tightening painfully. "Please!"_

"_I'm going to find you, Kassie." His voice got closer and closer to her each time. "You can't hide forever."_

_She breathed heavily as she attempted to drag her heavy body across the ground. It wasn't working, though. "This is your fault, Kassie," Peter called. "This is all your fault."_

_Kassandra desperately tried to stand up, but her legs refused to work. It was as if she had to sit there and wait for Peter to come to her. She couldn't leave._

"_Peter," she tried again. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_

"_That's not good enough, Kassie," Peter whispered into her ear. Then her corpse of a brother- dead skin hanging off of rotting bones, maggots infesting his eyes and skin- raised his long gleaming knife to stab her in heart so she could join him in the land of the dead._

Kassandra gasped and shot upwards, clutching her not beating heart. She breathed hard, reminding herself that she wasn't human anymore, and simple knives wouldn't kill her.

Her nightmares were back, and with a vengeance.

_**~SYH~**_

Kassandra went out to lunch with Ruby the next day planning not to say a word to the witch about her nightmare the previous night. But Ruby truly was her best friend. She noticed the yawning and her tiredness, and put it all together in three minutes flat.

"So, where you ever planning to tell me about your nightmare?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow as she picked at her salad.

Kassandra sighed and shrugged one shoulder, taking a bite out of a French fry. "Not really, no," she replied honestly.

The witch frowned at her. "I could help you, Kass," she repeated for the millionth time. "If you just told me about him."

Kassandra remained silent, and Ruby became convinced she'd never share anything about Peter ever. But then the vampire sighed again and took a long sip of her drink.

"He was seven years younger than me," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "He was thirteen when he went missing. He had just been learning how to swordfight, but even if he knew how to handle himself in a fight, he never would have stood a chance against a vampire.

"He went missing about five days after vampires overtook the village. That's why my mother and uncle died- they were out looking for him when a vampire attacked them. I found their bodies, but I could never find Peter's. And I think that makes it worse, not being able to put him to rest-" Kassandra cut herself off and closed her eyes. Talking about Peter was hurting her more than helping, and she really didn't like doing it.

"What are your nightmares about, Kass?" Ruby asked gently, her voice softer than Kassandra had ever heard it.

"He's always blaming me for his death. Always." Kassandra didn't open her eyes. "Because it's my fault, Ruby. Peter's dead because of me."

"Kassandra-" Ruby started to say, but then Kassandra's eyes flashed opened.

"No, that's enough for today," she said harshly. "No more, Ruby."

Ruby sighed, but nodded. She knew pushing Kassandra never got you anywhere, so she let her have her way. "Fine, let's talk Elijah then," the witch said, leaning back into her chair.

Kassandra glared at her friend. "Wow, we're just talking about all the easy, light topics today, aren't we?" she muttered sarcastically.

"Have you finally admitted to yourself that you're in love with him yet?" Ruby asked with a raised eyebrow. Kassandra's glare hardened. "I'll take that as a no."

"I'm not in love with him," she said. "He's a friend that I fuck. How many times do I need to explain this to you? I'm not even talking to him presently either."

Ruby frowned. "What'd he do?"

"He's keeping something from me," she said. "And I don't like being kept out of the loop so I'm giving him the silent treatment."

"How mature of you," the witch muttered dryly, before stealing a fry off of her plate. "So, how is this sex with benefits thing going to work out with Elijah staying in Mystic Falls permanently?"

Kassandra looked up at her friend in surprise. "He's not staying in Mystic Falls," she said. "He's coming back. He promised he would." She narrowed her hazel eyes at the witch. "Why don't you think he's coming back?"

"Because it'd make more sense for him to stay in Virginia," Ruby explained. "His family's there, it'd be easier to plot against Esther and Finn, it'd be safer too, with them all together. I thought he was staying there for good."

"Well, he's not," Kassandra said slowly, suddenly doubting if Elijah was telling the truth. "He said he's coming back, so he is. Right?"

Ruby was smirking to herself and Kassandra narrowed her eyes. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing really," the witch said. "It's just… either Elijah really loves the city or he's become attached to you."

"Maybe the sex is just that good," Kassandra retorted.

"Maybe," Ruby said in a doubtful tone.

Both of them knew, though, that Elijah was staying for one reason and one reason only. Kassandra. That's all New York City had to offer him. And he had become very attached to her. Kassandra refused to admit it to anyone, including herself, but she was just as attached back.

_**~SYH~**_

Later that night, Kassandra was debating calling Elijah to announce that she had forgiven him and to double check that he was, in fact, coming back, when there was a knock on her door. She groaned and muttered to herself as she got off of her coach and went to open it.

She raised an eyebrow in surprise when she saw it was Elijah.

"Oh," she said. "I was just gonna call you."

"You were?" he asked. "I thought you were upset with me, since you've been ignoring my calls."

Kassandra shrugged. "I wasn't really upset, I was just making a point."

"That point being?"

"That you shouldn't withhold information from me," she said cheekily.

Elijah sighed. "Has anyone ever told you how very difficult you are?"

Kassandra just smirked at him and gestured for him to come inside. She frowned at his back when she remembered that he shouldn't have been back yet. "Why are you here?" she asked bluntly. "When did you get back?"

"Just now," he answered. "I came here to apologize, because it's easier for me to just apologize to you even if I didn't really do anything wrong."

"Such a fast learner." She smirked at him, but was still confused. "Why did you come back so soon?"

Elijah shrugged and turned to face Kassandra. "Lenore wasn't giving us any information that could be useful, so I let my siblings deal with her," he said simply.

That wasn't particularly true. He came back to make sure Esther or Finn hadn't hurt her. Kassandra was strong and smart and didn't need him to protect her, but he couldn't help it. The idea of anyone trying to harm her made him want to rip them apart. He felt a lot less anxious seeing that Kassandra was alive and well with his own eyes.

"_Elijah," _Kassandra said in a low voice. "What did Lenore say about me? Please, just tell me."

He sighed. But Kassandra would badger him and whine and ignore him until he finally gave in, and he could do without that extra frustration. "She told me that Esther plans to kill you," he answered slowly.

Kassandra didn't even blink. "Why would she want to do that?" she asked. "Am I really that big of a pain in the ass?"

He sighed. "Yes, you are," he said, and Kassandra glared daggers at him. "But that's not why."

"Then why does she want me dead?"

"Because of me," Elijah told her without looking at her. "She thinks you're a weakness of mine, and she wants to get to me through you."

That shut Kassandra up.

She blinked slowly. "That's why you came back so soon," she said, more to herself than to him. "You wanted to make sure I was okay."

Elijah didn't answer, but she really didn't expect him to. "I'm a big girl, Elijah," she told him, but there was no edge in her voice. "I can take care of myself."

"I know."

Kassandra bit her lip. "Esther's not… wrong, is she?" she asked, closing her eyes. She felt as if she was in uncharted territory. She wasn't good at this, dealing with feelings. She usually would've been offended had someone called her a weakness, but not with Elijah. With Elijah, she was almost… flattered.

Elijah didn't answer, but she already knew. Yes, Esther wasn't wrong.

Instead of stiffening and pushing him away, Kassandra stopped herself. She promised herself then and there that she'd work on not pushing people away. She didn't want to end up alone, with nothing but nightmares of Peter to keep her company.

Instead of pushing Elijah away, Kassandra grabbed his tie and pulled him closer, before crashing her lips against his.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **sorry for the lack of update. Special shout out to the anon who messaged me on tumblr. This chapter's for you, sweetie :)

Thank you to: abc500, SomebodyWhoCares, delenawolves, CharmedGirl92, Lovely Rain dancer, Guest, jamiecarterannie, and lily for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	22. Something Like That

**Chapter Twenty One**

_Something Like That_

"_Peter!" Kassandra screamed, running after her brother. Her bare feet pounded against the ground, stones cutting into her skin as she ran. "Peter, come back!"_

"_Kassie! Her brother yelled, his voice coming from everywhere at once. "Help me, Kassie. A monster's got me. Save me!"_

_Kassandra ran faster, her lungs aching. But she couldn't stop. Not if Peter was in danger. She had to save him. She was his big sister, and that was what big sisters did. They saved their little brothers from monsters._

_She ran through clearings and through patches of forest. Branches whipped at her skin, scratching her face, but she didn't stop. "Peter!" she screamed again. "Peter!"_

_She came to a stop at the edge of a clearing in the woods. A hooded figure held her little brother by his throat. His blonde hair was pasted to his head by sweat, and his blue eyes were full of sheer terror. Her heart broke, looking at him. Without thinking, she lunged for him, but the hooded monster let out a cackle and yanked Peter out of her reach._

"_Not so fast, Kassie," the monster hissed in a familiar and bone chilling voice. "We both know you don't save him. You don't save anybody. You're not the hero of the story, you're the villain."_

_Kassandra took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders back. "Give me my brother back," she demanded._

_The monster scoffed, and even though she couldn't see its eyes beneath its cloak, she had a sense the creature rolled them at her. "Why put the effort into saving someone you can't?" it said, its grip tightening on Peter. She heard her brother whimper beneath the monster's grip. "Your brother is dead, Kassie. Stop trying to save him."_

_Kassandra shook her head, her dirty braid shaking with it. "No. He's not. He's alive. He lives. See? He's alive right-" She cut herself off and gasped, placing a hand over her mouth. Her brother was dead on his feet, his rotting skin and maggots the obvious giveaway._

"_He's dead, Kassie," the monster repeated. "And it's your fault."_

_Kassandra took a step back, shaking her head repeatedly. "No. No. it's not."_

"You _killed him!" it exclaimed, letting go of Peter and stalking forward. "He died because of you. You should have kept him safe from the monsters, Kassie. Why did you let the monsters drain your little brother dry?"_

"_I didn't," She sobbed. "I promise, I didn't."_

_The monster lifted its hood, and her own face stared back at her, cruel and merciless. Blood covered Kassandra's face, and fangs poked out of her mouth._

"_Monsters killed Peter, Kassie," the monster purred, flashing in front of her. "And we're monsters."_

_A growl ripped out of the monster's throat, before it sank it's fangs into Kassandra's neck._

"Kassandra."

She gasped, her eyes flying open. It was just another nightmare. Another stupid fucking nightmare constantly reminding her of the one thing she wanted to take back the most but never could.

Elijah frowned at her, concern in his brown eyes. Kassandra sat up and stretched, avoiding his questioning gaze. "Was I talking in my sleep?" she asked after a few seconds of silence.

"More like screaming," he replied quietly. "I tried to wake you up for five minutes, but I couldn't."

She sighed and closed her eyes, slumping against her pillow. "Sorry that I woke you up," she muttered, pulling his shirt tighter around her body.

She had the tendency to steal Elijah's shirts after they had sex. It was as if she was claiming a souvenir. She just slept in them, but if Elijah forgot to ask for them back, she kept them. Secretly, he never forgot that she had his shirt. There was just a part of him that liked the idea that Kassandra kept things of his. It was just something that would remind others that she spent that night with him. If Kassandra ever found out that one bit of possessiveness Elijah allowed himself to have, she'd stab him in the throat.

Elijah shot her a look. "I couldn't care less about loss of sleep, Kassandra," he told her.

She opened one eye to look at him. "That's where you and I differ, Elijah," she said. "See, if anyone ever dared take away sleep from me, I'd rip them open and feed them their own organs."

He stared hard at her, and Kassandra sighed again. Clearly he wouldn't let them change topic. "This isn't the first time you've had nightmares, is it?" he asked her.

She shrugged, finding it hard to meet his eyes. "No," she admitted. "I've had them off and on for the past nine hundred years. No big deal."

"And they're all about Peter."

She snapped her head to look at him, her face hard. "Yes. My brother."

Elijah nodded slowly. "I remember him," he told her.

Kassandra frowned up at him. "You do?"

"He was Henrik's best friend," he said "Peter would tag along whenever we tried to teach Henrik how to swordfight. He was a good kid."

She smiled almost ruefully. "Better than I ever was."

"And you two were very close," Elijah stated. He didn't mean it as a question, but Kassandra nodded anyway.

"He was the only person I ever knew that never got sick of me. No matter how mean I was to him, the kid wouldn't leave me alone. So, eventually, I stopped trying to push him away." Kassandra sighed, closing her eyes.

"We don't have to talk about him, if you don't want to," Elijah told her quickly, but she shook her head.

"No. I… I _want _to tell you about him," she admitted honestly. She rested her arm over her eyes. It was easier to talk to Elijah about Peter when she wasn't looking at him. "Ruby's trying to get me to talk about him more."

"Did you ever find his body?" Elijah asked softly, looking up at the ceiling. She shook her head.

"No. I looked for years, before and after I turned. I tortured and bribed and blackmailed anybody who had any information where my little brother's body was, but I never found it." Her heart, dead and still in her chest, seemed to ache as she talked about Peter.

"How do you know he died in the village then?" Elijah dared to speak out loud. "Maybe he escaped."

Kassandra shot him a hard look, her eyes seeming to burn him. But, even still, he didn't shrink back. "Don't be ridiculous, Elijah," he snapped. "He died when you and your siblings became vampires."

Elijah remained silent. "I… I didn't play any part in his death, Kassandra," he told her honestly. "And, as far as I know, neither did my brothers or my sister."

She looked up at him, surprised. "I didn't think that you did, Elijah. There were other vampires that you all turned. I figured one of them did it."

He nodded, still staring up at Kassandra's ceiling. There were small cracks in it, and it was an off white. It was dirty, and Elijah wondered how she could stare up at it every night and not be bothered by it. Kassandra was much less of a neat freak than he was, though.

"You blame yourself," he stated bluntly. "For Peter's death."

Kassandra inhaled sharply. "Yeah, I do."

"Nine hundred years, you've carried the weight of guilt on your shoulders," he continued, talking more to himself than to her. "No wonder-" he cut himself off abruptly.

Kassandra raised an eyebrow. "No wonder what?"

No wonder she closed herself off, distanced herself from others. Kassandra believed herself to be cursed. The only person she had ever loved, ever been close to, had died. And she blamed herself for that death. If Elijah could go back in time, he'd make sure no vampire- related to him or otherwise- harmed Peter Patrikson. If he could've saved Kassandra from that heartache, he would've done everything in his power to.

Elijah didn't say any of this, though.

"He was my baby brother, Elijah," Kassandra stated suddenly. "And he died on my watch. Of course I feel guilty, like it's my fault. Because it is."

"I understand," he said. "I know what it's like, the responsibility of the elder sibling."

Kassandra couldn't explain it, but she felt lighter in the chest, as if explaining everything about Peter to Elijah had lessened the weight on her shoulders. Kassandra didn't feel defensive, now that Elijah knew what plagued her every day. She felt… safe. It was completely foolish of her, but Kassandra felt completely and utterly safe with him.

Elijah's fingers grazed her wrist, and, eyes still closed, she caught his hand with her own. For just a few seconds, Kassandra allowed herself to grip Elijah's hand tightly. She didn't know if she meant it as a thank you, for listening to her, or to show how much she did need him, not that she would ever, ever tell him that.

But then Kassandra pulled her hand away, only allowing herself to lean on someone else for a certain amount of time.

Elijah smiled slightly- ruefully, almost- as Kassandra turned on her side, her back facing him. But, as far as progress went, Kassandra shared more of herself with him that night than she had ever shared with anyone ever.

Before attempting to go back to sleep like Kassandra was, Elijah leaned over her and kissed the top of her head. She blinked slowly, as he pulled away and went back to his side of the bed.

It was then and there, in her bed at 3:13 in the morning, that Kassandra admitted to herself that she did have romantic feelings for Elijah. And it killed her that she did.

_**~SYH~**_

"So, what's the plan for today?" Kassandra asked, spreading out across her couch. Her blonde hair was long, and it hung off the couch while covering her face. It was one of the rare moments Kassandra had her walls down, and Elijah couldn't help but smile at how adorable she looked.

"We should probably go looking more into Lenore, see if we could find any information that might help us break her," he replied, waiting for her coffee maker to finish the pot. Even though it was her apartment, he always seemed to be the one to make the coffee.

Kassandra pouted. "Ugh, can we do something that requires less energy and focus?" she suggested.

"Does it necessarily matter?" Elijah replied. "Either way, I'm going to be the one doing most of the work and you'll just make suggestive comments and distract me."

She smirked up at him. "You've never minded it before."

"I didn't say I did now," he retorted, and her grin widened. Elijah began to make them two cups of coffee, just as his phone started to ring on Kassandra's table.

Before he could go to answer it, Kassandra blurred to the table and got it. "Elijah's phone," she said, looking right at him with a smirk on her lips.

"_You must be Shirt Girl," _an amused yet disgruntled voice said on the other end of the line. _"I must say, a day hasn't passed by where my sister hasn't found a way to complain about you. Impressive, since none of us know who you are."_

"Do you all really refer to me as 'Shirt Girl'?" Kassandra asked, frowning. Though she felt completely on edge, knowing she was having a conversation with Klaus- _the _Klaus. Half vampire, half werewolf. Completely feared by everyone she had ever run into that knew of the originals.

"_Well, Rebekah has a much more colorful moniker she prefers to call you. Believe me, if you knew what it was, you wouldn't be complaining about 'Shirt Girl'." _Klaus seemed entertained by her, and he didn't seem to remember her either; at least, not by her voice. Both of these were good things.

"Let me talk to my brother," Elijah said, standing in front of her with his hand out for his phone. She frowned but handed it over to him without complaining.

"You're no fun," she told him, accepting the mug of coffee in exchange for the cell phone.

Elijah didn't respond as Kassandra retreated to her bedroom, most likely to change into something that wasn't his shirt from last night and nothing else. It was a shame, but one couldn't have everything they wanted.

"What do you want, Niklaus?" he asked as soon as she was gone.

"_I wish to know why you have left us again, Brother," _Klaus replied, his voice void of any amusement it held prior Elijah taking his phone back.

Elijah sighed. He hadn't exactly explained to his siblings that he was returning to New York. He didn't want to give them the chance to make any comments on Kassandra. It drove him absolutely mad that they called her Shirt Girl.

"Does it matter, Niklaus? I am just as dedicated to stopping Esther and Finn here as I would be there," he said stubbornly.

"_Maybe, but I have a witch in my basement at this very moment," _Klaus retorted.

"A witch that I delivered to you," Elijah pointed out.

"_A witch that hasn't given any useful information to us whatsoever."_

"That is not my fault," he said, his jaw set the entire time he spoke to his brother.

"_No, perhaps not. But I believe your attention would be more focused solely on the task at hand if you remained at Mystic Falls with your family,"_ Klaus told him, and Elijah closed his eyes.

"What are you insinuating?" he asked his brother slowly.

"_That the woman I spoke to moments before is the reason you've returned at all. She is also the reason you haven't been completely focused on stopping the threat. Need I remind you how easy it would be to wipe our family out right now? What happens to one happens to all-"_

Elijah cut him off. "I haven't forgotten," he said, teeth gritted together.

"_Really? I'm surprised, you've been so busy wiping out werewolf packs and all," _Klaus replied sarcastically.

Elijah paused. "How did you know that?" he asked suspiciously.

"_I have my sources," _Klaus said cryptically. _"Though, that's not the point."_

"Then what, may I ask, is the point of this entire conversation, brother?" Elijah asked, close to hanging up on him.

"_The point is that your infatuation with this Shirt Girl is putting a major kink in our operations," _Klaus said briskly. _"Get rid of her."_

"No."

He could practically hear his brother's eyebrows rise. _"No?"_

"You do not tell me what to do, Niklaus," he said, cold anger seeping into his tone. "I am not one of your subordinates. And, I swear on every god humans have ever worshipped, if you or any of your lackeys so much as lay a hand on her, it will not be Esther and Finn you will fear your demise from."

Klaus didn't respond right away. It seemed ages before he spoke again. _"You're in love with her, aren't you?"_

Elijah considered not responding, but slipped out a vague answer anyway. "Something like that."

"Elijah, you almost done?" Kassandra called from the other room, seemingly oblivious to the rather intense conversation he had been holding with his brother.

"Yes, I am," he answered, before turning back to Klaus. "I assure you, brother, I am not neglecting any duties on my part."

"_Good. See to it that it stays that way." _With a click, Klaus hung up.

Elijah let out a sigh, tucking his phone into his jacket pocket. He imagined a time where his family situation wasn't nearly as complicated, and he could enjoy a morning with Kassandra in peace.

He hoped that time came sooner rather than later.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **thank you to: Lady Syndra, lily, SomebodyWhoCares, delenawolves, Lovely Rain Dancer, Nightwing's Gal, LeahlovesJacob, and jamiecarterannie for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	23. The Moment

**Chapter Twenty Two**

_The Moment_

Nobody understood what made Kassandra so special to Elijah. She didn't even understand why he was sticking around for so long. He was willing to slaughter an entire werewolf pack for her, forget about the life threatening situation he and his family were in when he was with her. Elijah reacted to threats against Kassandra's life like they affected him.

Elijah cared about her. He didn't know when he started to, but he did. He was allowed to think of her as a friend, that was allowed by Kassandra. But it was so much more than that. He didn't understand how he could be just friends with someone he had sex with on a regular basis.

It was more than friendly feelings he felt for Kassandra, and it was more than lust. It was something he couldn't quite explain, a feeling deep in his chest that really only came out in small moments- after sex when she would always press her face into his neck without even realizing she was, when she laughed, really laughed, and would toss her hair back and hold her sides as she shook uncontrollably. When she got drunk, really drunk, and would let something slip out about how lonely she really was.

Whenever Kassandra allowed herself to be vulnerable in front of him, he felt this protectiveness and this need to preserve that Kassandra, to protect her. Maybe it was because she was just another person in his life who needed him but would never admit it, that feeling existed. Maybe it was because she was the first person, outside of his siblings, he ever considered keeping around. Maybe Kassandra was special because Elijah relied on her, in a way, when he had never relied on anyone else.

Kassandra could tell Elijah was in a mood as soon as they stepped out of her apartment. She wasn't sure where he planned on taking them, but just followed him without any question. He wasn't in the type of mood where he'd enjoy their usual banter.

It wasn't until they walked out of her apartment building and Elijah hailed a cab that Kassandra finally asked him. "Where are we going exactly?" she asked as he opened the door of the yellow taxi for her.

"New Jersey," he answered, sliding in after her.

He gave the driver an address to a bar she had never been to, because it was Jersey. Since she had been a New Yorker for a century- give or take- she despised New Jersey like any good New Yorker would. Still, she didn't mention her loathing to Elijah.

"What's the plan?" she asked him, leaning an elbow against the window. "Why Jersey?"

"I was thinking about the fake name she gave us," he said almost distractedly, looking out the window of the cab. "And about how when you gave a fake name, it was your mother's. Maybe there's no connection, but I think it's worth a try to look into it."

"You think Lenore's sentimental enough to use her mother's name?" Kassandra asked cynically.

"You were."

Kassandra didn't have an answer for that. It had been the first name to pop into her head, the first thing she thought of. But, Elijah was right. It was worth a try. If they could find Lenore's family, they could use their lives as leverage to get information out of her.

"Lenore isn't a very common name, thankfully," Elijah continued. "And the only one that lives anywhere near the city is Lenore Nelson, owner of a bar just outside New York City."

"Are we just going to ignore that we're walking into a witch bar to threaten the witch owner?" Kassandra asked, eyebrows raised.

The driver was giving them strange looks, but both of them ignored him. He could easily forget their entire conversation with a little compulsion. "That won't be a problem, Kassandra," Elijah said, shifting to look at her finally.

"Oh, really? And why not?"

"The only daughter of Lenore Nelson is Amy Nelson," he told her. "And she was adopted."

Kassandra nodded slowly. "Yeah, that makes things a lot easier."

_**~SYH~**_

"Just let me go in first," Kassandra said, as she and Elijah stood outside the bar. It was about two in the afternoon and the bar was completely deserted. "It's safer."

"Not happening," he deadpanned. "You have no idea what you're walking into. It's not safe."

She rolled her eyes. "I'm nine hundred and seventy two years old," she said dryly. "I can take care of myself. But I appreciate the concern."

"I'm well aware of that, Kassandra," he told her. "But you die very easily compared to me."

She shifted, not missing the concern in his voice. She didn't know why he cared. She never meant for him to care about her, it hadn't been her intention. She thought about if the situation was reversed, if she was the original and he was the ordinary vampire. She wouldn't have let him walked in there, not when he could be killed by anything wooden with a sharp edge.

She never meant to care about Elijah either.

"Look," Kassandra started again, her voice losing its edge this time. "If you walk in there, it's more than likely that they'll know who you are, and then this entire plan will go to hell. But they won't know who I am. It's a safer bet, if I walk in there by myself."

He listened to her, but his jaw didn't relax.

"You'll be right outside, Elijah," she reminded him. "If anything goes wrong, you're in close enough proximity to ride in and save the day."

Elijah seemed to be arguing with himself, torn between letting Kassandra walk into a possible death trap by herself and finding a way to make Lenore useful. If he hadn't had his conversation with Klaus earlier, he never would've said yes.

"Fine," he said with a sigh. "But if you don't send me some sign that you're okay within five minutes, I'll tear the building down."

She smirked at him. "I'd prefer it if you burned it down- more flair. But that's my personal preference." She started towards the door, before pausing on the heels of her feet. She didn't overthink it, didn't let herself think about what exactly the little action meant and what it might mean to Elijah. Kassandra just turned around on her heels and marched back to Elijah. He barely had time to raise his eyebrows before her lips collided with his, her hands pressing against his chest for impact.

Kissing Kassandra was somewhere between a cross of a hurricane and an earthquake. She was so wild and impulsive in everything she did; he never saw each kiss coming. She always collided against him, wrapping her body around him. One hand would rest on his shoulder as an anchor, and the other arm would snake around his neck. Her fingers would scrape against the hair on the back of his head, near his neck. They would sink into it and pull him closer to her. With Kassandra, he could never get close enough.

Every time she kissed Elijah, he reacted like he was shell shocked, like he hadn't known what a kiss was until that very moment. He would blink down at her, surprised and dazed, as her tongue forced its way into his mouth. He reacted automatically, His hands going to her waist, her ass, her hair. Sometimes they skim across her breasts, but at that moment they were in a public place and Elijah was too much of a gentleman to grope her in the middle of New Jersey. She wouldn't have minded very much if he had, though.

Kassandra pulled away, trying to get a grip on herself and control her breathing. "I'll let you know when you can come in," she told him, an odd fluttery sensation taking her over and making her feel light like she was full of air.

There was an intense expression on Elijah's face, like he didn't want her to walk away from him at that moment, or maybe ever. Kassandra took a step backwards and went to turn around on her heel when she felt him grab her wrist and pull her back to him.

This time, Kassandra was dumbfounded as Elijah's hands held her face and his lips went against hers. It was quick and sweet and easy- the fast food of kisses. It made every cell in Kassandra's body feel alive with energy, and she suddenly realized she had taken kissing Elijah for granted all that time.

"When we get out of here," she told him, breathing heavily. "We're going to do more of that."

Elijah was still composed, and it was something she envied about him. "I look forward to it."

She took one last look at him before leaving for real.

_**~SYH ~**_

A country song about broken hearts was being played in the background of the bar, as Kassandra walked in. The only person there was a man in his early twenties wiping down the bar.

"Sorry," he called, looking up. "We're closed-"

He stopped when he saw Kassandra and smirked. "Well, hello there."

She smirked back, pulling down her shirt slightly so she revealed more cleavage. His eyes followed her movements and her smirk widened. Boys were so typical. They loved anything with boobs and found it hard to stare at anything but her chest. At least Elijah had the decency to only check her out when he was sure she wasn't paying attention.

"Hey," she said, glad she had taken the time to do her makeup. "Can I get a beer?"

The man straightened. "Anything for a beautiful woman."

Kassandra sauntered up to the bar and he placed a bottle on the top for her. She took a sip, nose wrinkling as the taste reminded her why she didn't drink beer very often.

"So," he said, leaning his elbows on the bar. "What's your name, Pretty Girl?"

At least the bartender looked at her face while he talked to her. "You tell me yours and I'll consider telling you mine," she said, taking a long sip of her drink and she looked up at him.

He grinned. "I love a demanding woman," he told her. "My name's Noah. What's yours?"

"Kassandra," she told him, crossing her legs. "My name's Kassandra."

She felt someone behind her, and instinct took over. She blurred around and grabbed onto the stake a middle aged woman was about to plunge into her heart.

She looked back at Noah, who was staring wide eyed at her. "You're a vampire," he said, looking more intrigued than afraid.

She smirked at him. "Pretty _and _smart," she said, before her eyes flicked to the woman. She took her to be Lenore, who stared at her with defiant eyes she had seen only once before- when she met her adoptive daughter.

"Elijah," she said, her voice a little louder than before. "You can come in now. We found Lenore's family."

_**~SYH~**_

"How do you know my sister?"

Noah was watching Kassandra warily, though there was still a hint of lust in his gaze. She scoffed inwardly. Human boys were the horniest creatures she had ever met.

"Well, she tried to kill me once," Kassandra said dryly, as she walked slowly around the chair she had parked Noah in. She hadn't bothered to tie him up- it wasn't as if he could outrun her.

Elijah had taken Mommy Lenore, while she had been put in charge of interrogating Noah, Lenore aka Amy's brother. Elijah hadn't seemed too happy about Kassandra being with Noah, making her think he had heard the flirting going on. It had been one sided- mostly.

"Are you a witch too?" She asked him curiously. Noah shook his head.

"Nah, Amy's the only magical one in the family. We'd know about the supernatural world since she was sixteen or so, but she'd never really played any part in it. But a few months ago she left and ran away, said she met a woman who told her about her destiny in playing a part in ridding the world of vampires," he told her. "She didn't tell us much more, said it wasn't safe. I think she expected that someone would try to use us against her."

Kassandra frowned. Ridding the world of _all _vampires? Not just the originals? What did Esther have up her sleeve?

"But I wanna talk about you, Pretty Girl." Noah smirked up at her. "Are you seeing anybody? What about the stuffy man in the suit? Is he your boyfriend?"

She rolled her eyes. "Elijah is less of my boyfriend and more of my boy toy," she told him.

"So that means there's an opening in the boyfriend department?" His eyes widened innocently, and she couldn't help but laugh.

"You're about nine hundred years too young for me, Kid," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"So that's a maybe?" Noah asked hopefully.

"If it'll get you to stop bothering me, then yeah, sure," Kassandra told him, running a hand through her hair.

She looked over her shoulder and could just make out Elijah in the other room. She wondered how things were going. Noah clearly didn't know much. He was just a hunky bartender with only a few brain cells to his name.

"Are you sure Suit knows he's just a boy toy to you?" Noah said, bringing her attention back to him. "Because the way he acts seems to show that he doesn't."

She snorted. "What are you talking about?"

"He's clearly jealous of me and you," he said a little arrogantly. "You should see the way he looks at me, like he wants to tear my intestines out. He wants you all for himself."

Kassandra just rolled her eyes. This was Elijah they were talking about. He wasn't the jealous type. He was more in control of his emotions than that.

"Can you really blame him though?" she joked, ignoring him, as she gestured to her body.

Noah smirked up at him. "Not in the slightest."

She frowned. Maybe Noah's flirty little comments were fun at first, but now they were getting annoying. She looked back at Elijah. She wondered how much longer they'd be here and when they could go home.

"Stay here," she told Noah, before strutting back to the other room. She didn't notice Noah stand up as she poked her head into the other room. "Elijah-"

Before she could process what happened, Elijah had pushed her into a counter, hard. She was sure her ribs had cracked. She groaned and stood up. "What the hell was that for-"

She cut herself off and her eyes widened. She watched Elijah pull a stake out of his shoulder like he was ripping a band aid off. At his feet, Noah was laughing humorlessly.

"Sorry, Pretty Girl," Noah crooned, looking at her over his shoulder. "But no one's hurting my baby sister. Not when she's the only one who can save us from vampires like you."

She gritted her teeth, not sure if she was angrier because he tried to kill her or because he ended up attacking Elijah instead. She had half a mind to rip his throat out right there, but one look from Elijah reminded her they needed him alive, as leverage against Amy.

"When we get to torture them," she said to Elijah, though she was looking directly at Noah. "I call first dibs on breaking his ribs."

Then she turned on her heels and stormed out of the room.

_**~SYH~**_

Elijah hadn't gotten much out of Lenore, only that Esther had recruited her daughter months ago. Still, they had Amy's family and that meant they might be able to get some real information out the witch now.

He had chosen not to wait around for Kol to come to pick Lenore and her son up personally, instead just opting to compel them not to leave the bar. Especially after Kassandra was almost staked, he wanted to get her back to the city as soon as possible.

He would've been lying if he said it had nothing to do with wanting to separate Kassandra from that human boy he couldn't be bothered to remember the name of. He wasn't jealous. He didn't get jealous. But the way he looked at her, the way he spoke to her, the way he even called her "Pretty Girl"- a nickname that didn't do Kassandra justice in the slightest. She was so much more than just a pretty girl. She was gorgeous and sexy and stubborn and sadistic and dynamic- it all made Elijah want to rip his heart out. But he wasn't jealous.

The fact that Kassandra didn't seem to mind- that she even enjoyed it enough to humor his flirtations- made it just that much worse. And he was sure he was going to snap when the boy had the nerve to try and kill her. That Kassandra left the bar angry with Noah helped settle his anger, but didn't completely satisfy it.

He didn't mean to be possessive of Kassandra, to want to keep her for himself only. Elijah never set out to be selfish with her, to want to gouge out the eyes of men who noticed her beauty like he did. Kassandra would give him hell if she ever found out. But his blatant jealousy was another thing Elijah had never experienced before Kassandra.

Elijah's mood was even worse than before they had went to New Jersey, even though they had successfully found Lenore/Amy's family. Kassandra kept thinking about what Noah had said, as she and Elijah walked back up to her apartment. _"He's clearly jealous of me and you. He wants you all for himself."_

Every day she had to remind herself that she and Elijah weren't a couple, there were no real feelings involved. They were friends that were attracted to each other. That was all they were. Their relationship was easy, simple, uncomplicated. But, sometimes, when Kassandra would fall asleep with her head on his chest even though they hadn't had sex or when she was sprawled out across him on the couch, she'd forget. She'd imagine that they were actually a couple, that she was allowed to be possessive and kiss him in public and treat him like he was her boyfriend. Then she'd get angry with herself for forgetting the boundaries she had set up herself.

Every day, those boundaries were crossed more and more by both of them.

Elijah held the door open for her, and Kassandra passed him. She shrugged off her coat and tossed it over a table. "Are you okay?" she asked him, turning to face Elijah. "'Cos you seem a little off-"

Elijah cut her off, kissing Kassandra hard and slamming her against the wall. She lost her breath in surprise, not expecting him to kiss her like that. He kissed her roughly, handled her roughly. He acted like he couldn't get enough of her lips, her skin. It so very unlike Elijah that Kassandra was unnerved yet intrigued at the same time.

She kissed him back, her hands going to his hair, when he grabbed her wrists and pinned them to her sides. His strength easily overpowered hers and struggling was futile. She frowned against his mouth as the kissing got rougher and almost violent. Kassandra was sure her lips were bruised, but she didn't mind it.

Kassandra didn't know where this was coming from all of a sudden, but she liked it. Lately, sex with her and Elijah was soft and slow and sweet and somewhere in the middle they end up making love and it scares the shit out of her. Rough and dominant sex was something she needed, even if it meant letting Elijah take control.

He lifted her up easily, his mouth leaving hers for the first time and Kassandra found herself gasping for air. Elijah brought her thigh up to his hip, while he kissed the sensitive part of her neck that was just above her collar bone.

Unable to control herself, Kassandra grounded her pelvis into his, looking for any kind of friction she could get. But Elijah just frowned into her neck and held onto her hips to keep her still.

Kassandra groaned, her head smacking into the wall behind her. "You're killing me," she whined. "Just give me something, Elijah, please."

His hands slipped up her shirt, skimming the edge of her bra, before easily ripping it off of her. It flew into a corner somewhere, and stayed there, forgotten. Kassandra started to shimmy out of her jeans, and Elijah abided her. Once she was in nothing but her lacy undergarments, Kassandra was pushed against the wall again and his mouth was on hers with a new kind of ferocity.

She wriggled against him, desperate for any kind of contact. But Elijah was taking his time at a sweet, torturous pace, each bruising kiss burning more than the last. Kassandra managed to slip out of his grip long enough to rip his shirt off.

He chuckled against her mouth, trailing back down to the sweet spot in her neck. "You're so impatient," he murmured, pulling her body impossibly closer to him, so that there was no space between them.

"If I had it my way, I'd already be riding you on the floor," she gasped out, Elijah kissed down to her shoulder, pulling the straps down before reaching around and unhooking her bra. She threw it to the side, arching her back slightly when Elijah's fingers ran over her breast.

He didn't spend much time on her chest, instead opting to move down to her underwear. His fingers hooked under the lace and he pulled them down to her knees where she promptly kicked them off.

Instead of moving back to her lips, Elijah moved closer to her center. Then his lips were in her folds, his tongue flicking her clit and Kassandra jolted back, nails digging into the wall. She had had guys go down on her before, but not like Elijah. Only he could be rough with her while going slow, his fingers skimming her stomach and edging closer towards her clit.

Kassandra leaned her head against the wall, letting her shoulders fall slack as she allowed herself relax and enjoy the orgasm building in the pit of her stomach. Elijah had never done that to her before, but the way it made her feel- the slow, lazy circles that made her wetter and closer to falling over the edge- she'd make him do it more often.

Elijah's hand slid up Kassandra's spine, and her knee knocked against his face as he continued to focus on applying just the right amount of pressure to her sex that drove her crazy. She was close, he knew it. He could feel it. But he wasn't ready for her come yet.

Elijah pulled away and Kassandra groaned out in frustration, shoulders falling in disappointment. "Why? I was so close," she complained, her chest rising and falling with her heavy breathing.

Elijah pulled off his shirt, tossing it to the floor, before going to unbutton his pants. Kassandra's hands beat him there, and she managed to unzip his pants and run her fingers along his dick before he could stop her. He shuddered at the touch, and Kassandra smirked at his hardness.

"No touching," he reminded her, and she pouted.

"You're no fun."

Elijah spread her legs and slowly entered her, causing Kassandra to lose her breath again. She thrusted her hips into him, gasping out loud at the contact. As soon as he was all the way in her, Elijah held her against the wall, her legs wrapped around his waist, and started pushing roughly into her.

He was ruthless in his thrusts, giving Kassandra no time to adjust at his speed and deepness. She clawed at his shoulders, trying to grasp onto anything her hands touched. Kassandra tried to meet his every move, but she quickly lost herself in the rhythm. Kassandra threw her head back as a string of curse words fell out of her mouth. She felt her orgasm building again, faster than before.

Kassandra ripped her nails down his back, and Elijah barely acknowledged the brief sting. Her fingers pulled at his hair, and he dug his nails into her hips, his grip bruising on her skin.

The "fuck, fuck, fuck" falling out of her mouth turned into a constant phrase of "Elijah, Elijah, Elijah" when he hit the right spot inside of her. His arms tightened around her. He was as close as she was. They were rocking at an inhuman speed now, and both were so close to falling over the edge.

Kassandra lifted his head and crashed her lips against his, biting down on his bottom lip. Elijah pushed into her one last time before they both came undone. Kassandra came screaming, gripping onto Elijah with everything she had Elijah groaned into her throat, his arms wrapping around her waist.

Kassandra's legs felt like jelly when he finally placed her back on the floor. She pressed her face into his neck for a moment, catching her breath. She was still coming down from her orgasm when she pulled away from him, her chest rising and falling as she panted.

She picked up his shirt off of the floor and pulled it on, the fabric skimming her thighs. Elijah watched her make her way across the apartment, a grin on her face. It was mesmerizing, almost, the way she tossed her golden hair back as she poured them both drinks.

"If that's what happens when you get jealous," she said, her back turned to him as he pulled his pants back on, "then I'll be sure to flirt with other men in front of you more often."

He snorted. "I wasn't jealous of that insignificant human boy, if that's what you think."

She smirked up at him. "Yeah, that's why you just asserted your dominance by fucking me senseless."

He shrugged. "That doesn't mean I was jealous."

Kassandra put her drink to her lips. "Don't worry, I think it's cute." Her eyes were full of amusement.

Elijah rolled his eyes at her, and she laughed before standing up on her toes to press her lips against his briefly, sweetly. When she pulled away, she stared up at him with an odd sort of fondness for a moment or two before looking away.

It was that moment, with her wild sex hair and lips that tasted like scotch, that Elijah fully came to realize and understand that he was, in fact, jealous of any man who got Kassandra's attention.

It was that moment he understood why he stayed in New York, why he felt the way he felt.

It was that moment that every other moment led up to, the moment of full realization and acceptance.

It was the moment that Elijah realized he was madly in love with Kassandra.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **sorry for the wait, but I wrote you guys over 4500 words and 10 pages, which included smut, so please accept this as an apology.

Thank you to: LilyMikaelson, sissymac, RHatch89, MadameNini, Egyptian Kiss, TvdLover87654, ehluvr3, purpleXorchid, Guest, lily, delenawolves, Lovely Rain Dancer, SomebodyWhoCares, Luna065, JamieAnnieCarter, and Lady Syndra for reviewing!

Review!

~Abby :)


	24. Three Words

**Chapter twenty three**

_Three Words_

Elijah had thought he had been in love twice before, but whether he really was either times was up for debate. He had trailed after Tatia for months with his heart on his sleeve, only to have to watch his brother do the same. And Katerina had been another mess entirely. It started with chasing after her, and now he still was. But this game was different. He wanted to catch her. He wanted it to be over. And if he ever did catch Katerina Petrova, it would end with her heart in his grip.

He had confessed his love before, to Tatia. It had been forced, rushed. He had hoped it would make her choose him, love him and only him. Of course he didn't. Niklaus had done the same thing, hoped the same thing. And Tatia just loved playing the game, making the two brothers tear their selves apart for her.

But with Kassandra, there was no game. And waiting might actually help him. It wouldn't come out forced. He could wait decades, centuries even, until the timing felt right. Kassandra was such a flight risk, scared off so easily. Waiting for her would only help him not lose her like he lost Katerina and Tatia.

He'd wait, until the moment was right. Until she would look up at him and he could read it in her eyes that she loved him too. If it was too early, everything would crash and crumble, and Kassandra would be lost to him.

He thought about the chance that Kassandra would never love him back, not in the way he wanted her to. What would he do? What would be worse? Leaving her and returning to his family or trail after her for centuries, like with Tatia. Would he put her behind him because she couldn't love him or would he wait, hoping she would eventually? Would he be heartless or pitiful?

He hoped he never had to make that choice.

Kassandra laughed aloud, causing him to cut away from his thoughts and focus on her. She was stretched out across his bed, in nothing but his shirt, her head resting in her hands as she stared at the TV screen. _I Love Lucy _was playing on the screen, and over-zealous laughter was coming from it.

"I used to love this show," Kassandra admitted, as she flipped onto her back and looked up at him. Her eyes ran over Elijah in all his shirtless glory. He had his pants on, though- unfortunately. And the rather wild round of sex the two had gone at barely ten minutes ago, his hair was in perfect order. It was like his superpower.

He scoffed. "The 50's were horrific," he told her bluntly.

Kassandra shrugged. "Yeah, you're right. But _I Love Lucy _was the reason I managed to make it out of that decade without slaughtering every goddamn moron in a poodle skirt."

He smiled slightly. "The 50's were about getting back to the old fashioned morals of America. I suppose you didn't fit in too well at that time."

She frowned at him. "Watch yourself, Mikaelson."

His smile grew, and Kassandra huffed, tossing her hair back. "My favorite decade was the 80's. Good music, good movies, good fashion. I had fun in the 80's."

Elijah raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about that?"

Her eyes widened. "You didn't like the 80's? Are you kidding me? Guns n' Roses, AC/DC, Queen, Journey- how can you not like Journey?"

"How could you _like _Journey?"

She frowned at him. "The movies then? You didn't like the movies? The Brat Pack? Come _on, _Elijah."

He rolled his eyes. "The 80's are incredibly overrated. And the fashion was horrendous."

"Says the guy who dresses like an old man," she muttered, leaning back on her heels.

Elijah frowned at her. "Just because I choose to always look my best, does not mean I dress like the elderly."

Kassandra secretly liked Elijah's suits. There was something incredibly sexy about them. He looked good in one. But still, she rolled her eyes. "Please, the only time I've seen you not wearing a suit is when you're not wearing anything."

"You never seemed to mind that either."

She smirked up at him, her hazel eyes lighting up like a predator eyeing her prey. Kassandra pounced then, landing on Elijah lightly. Her legs came around his hips, and she rested her hands on his shoulders. He was tempted to kiss her, to ravish her, to just touch her any way. The way her hair- messy and falling around her face- and her eyes- bright and wild- made her seem like an animal made her hard to resist.

Kassandra leaned back, but he kept his eyes on her. "What's your favorite decade then, old man?" she asked. "Or century even?"

Elijah thought about it. "The 1500s," he said finally.

Kassandra scoffed, pushing her hair out of her face. "Really?"

"Yes," Elijah said stubbornly, frowning at her. "All the exploration, the humans discovering that there was more to the world than they thought. The art too; Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Shakespeare. It was a wonderful century."

Kassandra smirked at him. "Shakespeare is incredibly overrated."

Elijah sighed. "You're such a child."

"You don't seem to mind," she breathed, before her lips crashed into his, pushing him back into the bed with force.

He loved her. It was all he could think about. Every touch, every kiss, every strand of hair that grazed his skin. He loved her. Everything she did, he loved her more for it. She was flawed, to a point where her flaws became her, but he loved those too. He just loved her.

He could feel it in his throat, the three words about to come out. He opened his mouth, but Kassandra pressed a finger to his lips. She smiled- actually smiled, a thing so rare- and pressed a kiss against his jaw.

"No more fighting about how boring your favorite century is and how awesome the 80's were," she teased. "Besides; I'm a lover, not a fighter."

Elijah scoffed. "Since when?"

Her skin pressed tighter against his. Her fingers ran through his hair, messing it up. She liked messing his hair up, if only to see it go completely neat minutes later. She kissed him hard, biting lightly down on his bottom lip with a smile. "Since you."

Elijah wasn't allowed time to think about any deeper meanings beneath her words. Kassandra was already undoing his pants again, brushing the fabric aside with her hands. Her hands were holding him in place by his chest. Elijah pressed his face into her bare shoulder as she settled herself on him. Then, with a groan, he entered her in a painfully slow pace.

Elijah allowed Kassandra to take control, instead opting to watch her move against him. His shirt had fallen open, revealing her breasts. Her eyes were closed, and she was biting down on her lip subconsciously as she moved her hips against his, the pace slow but hitting all the right spots.

Kassandra threw her head back, picking up speed slightly as she moved. Her hands grazed his chest, and Elijah moved his arms to wrap around her waist. He pulled her closer to him, meeting her thrusts as he did so. A groan fell from Kassandra's lips, and he kissed her neck, his fingers tracing her sides, her hips, down to her thighs. Kassandra's nails dug into the back of his neck, and Elijah didn't even flinch.

He pulled her chin down gently, so that they were eye level. Her eyes fell open slowly, and he met her gaze as he continued to enter her. He was close, and by the way her nails kept scraping his skin, she was too. Not looking away from her, Elijah increased the pace. A string of moans came from Kassandra, and he held onto her hips as she tried to meet his thrusts with her own.

He angled his hips, hoping to hit her sweet spot. He succeeded, and Kassandra swore into his shoulder as she came. Elijah continued moving in and out of her, his fingers locked in her hair, until he came too.

Catching her breath, Kassandra pressed her lips against Elijah's temple before she got off of him. She fixed her shirt before flopping back onto her stomach, her feet crossing. Elijah just watched her, breathing heavily as he did.

He loved her. God, did he love her.

_**~SYH~**_

"You're late."

Kassandra rolled her eyes as she hopped up onto the barstool, resting her elbows on the bar. Across from her, Ruby frowned at her.

"I prefer to say I'm fashionably late," she said to the witch, smirking.

"Fashionable or not, you're still late," Ruby said, wiping a glass clean.

She shrugged. "Does it really matter? We all know the only reason I even show up to my shift sometimes is because I'm bored," she reminded her friend.

"And, let me guess, the original you've been shacking up with has been keeping you pretty busy." Ruby smirked.

"More like I've been keeping him busy," Kassandra said, smirking back. "If I had it my way, that man would never wear pants again."

"Too much information, Kass," Ruby complained, nose wrinkled. "I feel like you need boundaries when it comes to talking about your sex life."

"Why go through the trouble of setting up boundaries when I'm just going to blatantly ignore them?" Kassandra retorted.

Ruby was going to respond, when Kassandra's phone vibrated, interrupting their conversation. She checked the caller ID and smiled subconsciously before answering. "Miss me already?"

"_You're an absolute slob."_

"And you're an anal retentive neat freak," Kassandra replied. "I like to think that we complement each other nicely."

"_Are you aware of how many suits I've lost, because they go missing in the black hole that is your apartment?" _Elijah complained, and she heard the sound of the clutter on her floor getting pushed aside as he looked for his clothes.

"You know, if you wore normal clothes you probably wouldn't lose them as often. Less pieces to find." Kassandra smirked to herself, at the thought of Elijah wearing jeans and a t-shirt. It was a very unnerving thought, like a dog walking on its hind legs.

"_Or you could actually use a hanger for once in your life," _he retorted.

"Was there actually a point to this phone call outside of pointing out my messiness?" Kassandra asked, not that she minded.

"_There is," _Elijah said. _"I want to know what you did with my shirt. I have an appointment with another witch in Brooklyn and I can't leave without it."_

"I think I left it on the floor in the bathroom," she said, and Elijah sighed. She rolled her eyes at him. "They're just wrinkles, Elijah. You'll survive."

He didn't seem surprised that she knew what he was thinking. _"I suppose I will."_

"Drama queen," she muttered.

"_I heard that."_

"You were meant to," she teased.

Kassandra knew he rolled his eyes. _"How long will you be with Ruby?" _he asked her, changing the subject.

"I'm not sure," she said, frowning. "Why? You need backup?"

"_Maybe. Will you be able to meet me at a warehouse on the corner of Lawrence and 5__th__ in Brooklyn around three?"_

"Yeah, I think I'll be able to pull that off."

"_Alright, see you then."_

"See you."

"_And Kassandra…" _Elijah paused, and her eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah?"

"_Never- never mind. See_ _you then."_

She frowned when Elijah hung up on her. She was still frowning when she turned around to face Ruby, who was grinning.

"What's up with you?" she muttered, putting her phone back in her jacket.

"Nothing," Ruby said lightly, still grinning. "Just wondering when the wedding was and why I wasn't invited."

She rolled her eyes at her friend. "Whatever, Ruby."

"Come on, Kass!" She exclaimed. "You two practically live together. You spend most of your time together. You bicker like husband and wife. You're so married."

"I don't even have the energy to have this conversation with you for the hundredth time," Kassandra said, sitting up.

"I just- I think you should know that I approve of Elijah," Ruby said suddenly, seriously. "No matter what you two are, I approve of him. So whether you want to fuck him or marry him or have his babies or whatever, I think you should keep him around. He's a good man, Kass, and a good influence on you. Maybe he's dragging some drama into your life, but you're happy. And that's good enough for me."

Kassandra fidgeted. "How do you know he makes me happy?" she muttered.

"You smiled when you saw that he was the one calling you," Ruby pointed out. "You didn't smirk, you smiled. You never smile."

"I smile," she argued. "I'm not a robot, Ruby."

"All I'm saying is that I like him. I just thought you should know," Ruby said simply, before picking her rag up again. "Now, don't you have a husband to go meet in Brooklyn?"

Kassandra rolled her eyes but hesitated. "You okay with me leaving?"

"Yeah, it's not like you were going to do much besides distract me," Ruby said, shrugging. "I'll call you later tonight, okay?"

"Sounds good," Kassandra said, standing up and heading towards the door.

"Oh, and Kass?" Ruby called, making Kassandra pause.

"Yeah?"

"If you ever get married and I'm not your Maid Of Honor, I'll kill you in your sleep," she said lightly.

Kassandra rolled her eyes and walked out of the bar. But she didn't doubt for a second that Ruby was being serious.

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **hoped you all enjoyed this fluffy chapter before things heat up.

Review!

~Abby :)


	25. Confessions Are Good For The Soul

**Chapter twenty four**

_Confessions Are Good For the Soul_

As she waited on the street corner in front of the creepy warehouse, pulling her coat tighter around her body more out of habit than because she was cold, Kassandra thought that Elijah needed to get new meeting places. She was tired of going to run down, rat infested, abandoned warehouses in the slums of New York.

Amy had yet to crack, even with the torturing of her mother and brother. It had been two weeks since they abducted her family, but she was still holding strong. Ever since then, she and Elijah had been tracking down any witches they could find. Any witches that even knew what the spell they were looking for was. Kassandra couldn't find anything that even hinted at the eradication of vampires spell in any of the Grimoires she had managed to track down. She was still looking, though.

Letting out an impatient sigh, Kassandra pulled her cell phone out of her jacket pocket. Dialing the number she had practically memorized, she tapped her foot as she waited for him to pick up. It went straight to voice mail.

"Elijah, I've been waiting for you for over forty minutes. I'm bored, and if you don't show up in the next twenty minutes, I'm going to flag down a cab and go home and watch _The Walking Dead. _Call me back."

Kassandra gnawed on her lip as she looked around the empty street. She didn't like the neighborhood she was in. It was a sketchy place, completely abandoned. The only signs of life were the cockroaches on the sidewalk and the rustling of rats in turned over garbage cans.

She still didn't understand why Elijah couldn't meet with witches at a Starbucks or something.

"Kassandra Patrikson?"

She turned instinctively towards the sound of her name. All she saw was a pair of shockingly pale gray eyes before her head erupted in pain.

Kassandra clutched helplessly at her head, feeling as if it was about to explode. She fell to her knees, gasps of pain falling from her lips breathlessly. "What the _hell_?" she tried to fight the pain, but it was hard to think straight when it felt like someone was repeatedly stabbing her brain with an ice pick.

"Just give in to it," the voice, surprisingly soft, urged her. "Don't fight it. Just give into the pain."

Kassandra didn't understand what the voice meant. How could you give into pain? How couldn't she fight? Fighting was all Kassandra ever did. She was a fighter, a survivor.

But then everything started to go fuzzy, and with that came numbness. Sweet, welcoming numbness. She gave herself to that numbness, wanting the pain to be over. And then everything went black and nothing hurt anymore.

_**~SYH~**_

When Kassandra finally joined the world of the conscious, her head was aching, her eyes were bleary, and she was trapped in a cage like some wild animal.

Gritting her teeth, Kassandra shook the bars of the cell she was locked in angrily. She didn't bother to think about who she was up against, where she was, or where Elijah was in all of this. All she knew was that someone had attacked her and locked her up in a fucking _cage _and she was _pissed._

"Wanna show your face so that I can rip it off with my bare hands?" she snarled out, gripping the bars tightly in her fists. She went to rip the bars out so that she could make her escape, but she found that the steel bars wouldn't budge.

"The cell's enchanted; not even an original vampire could so much as scratch the bars," the quiet voice so very familiar called out.

With a huff, Kassandra pushed away and angrily brushed her blonde hair out of her face. "Who are you and what do you want?"

She thought she saw movement in the dark corners of the room. "Let's just say I'm an upset friend of the people you and the Mikaelsons took."

Kassandra's mouth twisted into a bitter smile. "A witch with a vendetta- that's new," she muttered sarcastically. "Fine then, riddle me this. What do you want from me?"

"Elijah."

Kassandra scoffed. "Of course. Let me guess, this is all some very clever trap to lure Elijah in, featuring the very lovely me as the bait."

Silence met her. Kassandra narrowed her eyes angrily. "Well, I wouldn't get my hopes up too much, okay Witchy? Elijah's smarter than this. He'll realize that it's a trap a mile away and you won't stand a chance."

"We'll just see about that," the voice answered calmly. "Love tends to strip even the wisest people of their senses."

Kassandra froze. "Wha- what do you mean?" Had she misheard her? She must have.

The voice didn't elaborate. "Just sit tight, Kassandra. It'll be over before you know it."

The witch started to walk away, but Kassandra promptly stopped her. No, she wouldn't go down like this. Kassandra needed answers that only the voice could provide.

"Not so fast, Witchy. If you're gonna use me as Elijah bait, at least feed me some information first," Kassandra demanded.

The witch paused. "What do you want to know?" she asked slowly.

"How one little witch could take down a vampire as old as me," Kassandra asked seriously. "I'm not an original, but I'm almost as old as one. I'm almost as powerful as one. And you managed to make me pass out. How? How do you feel so confident taking on an original all by yourself?"

It took the voice so long to answer Kassandra almost thought she wouldn't.

"One finds that anything is possible when you're a part of one of the oldest, strongest covens in the country- maybe even the world."

Coven. That was the answer to everything. The witch had the powers of dozens of others at her disposal. She was seeking justice for Amy because she must have been a junior member of her coven.

"What'd you do to Elijah?" She asked suddenly, eyes flashing dangerously as she searched the shadows for the mysterious witch. "Why was he late? He's never late."

"He got a text message telling him that I wanted to meet in a different location, and that if he didn't come alone I wouldn't tell him where his mother was hiding. I assume he didn't want to take the chance and risk losing such valuable information. By now he'll have realized something was wrong and is most likely realizing you were taken. It'll only take him about an hour- if even- to find us. Then he'll see you and be so distracted by his relief that you are alive and well that he won't notice when I incapacitate him and deliver him to his mother. Then, when that's done, I'll dispose of you," the voice said, spilling out her entire evil plan.

"Aw, Witchy, don't you watch movies? The villain is never supposed to expose her plan," Kassandra mocked, eyes glinting, already planning her great escape.

She chuckled darkly. "I am hardly the villain, Kassandra. I'm doing a great service to this world, to humans, to nature."

Kassandra narrowed her eyes. "That's another thing; how do you know who I am?"

Another pause. When the witch spoke again, her voice was even quieter. "She speaks of you, the witch who turned her back on others. The witch who could have done great things but was too selfish to. The witch who holds one of the most dangerous vampire's heart in her hand and doesn't even realize. Kassandra Patrikson, the disgrace of witches everywhere."

"Well, that's a little harsh," Kassandra said, frowning. "Jesus, why are witches so dramatic? I hardly believe I'm the disgrace of witches everywhere."

"That's where you're wrong, Kassandra," the voice breathed. "Betrayal is the worst kind of defense."

Kassandra just shrugged. "That's where we differ in opinion."

It was quiet for so long Kassandra thought she had left. But then she spoke one last, final time. "Esther is redeeming herself, Kassandra. She is doing what is good and right and ridding the world of all vampires."

Kassandra wasn't the least bit surprised that Esther had the entire coven on her side, but the witch's last words surprised her. "You mean just her children," she corrected with a frown.

"No, I mean _all _the vampires."

Kassandra's jaw dropped, and she vaguely registered the voice walking out of the room. But she was too busy contemplating what she meant.

How was that even possible?

_**~SYH~**_

Kassandra didn't know how long she sat there, counting the bricks in the wall. Hours, maybe. Days. It might have even been minutes. She wasn't sure. All she knew was that time only seemed to really start when she heard that all too familiar voice.

"Kassandra?"

Instantly, she was standing, her hands pressed against the bars of the cell. "Elijah, leave! It's a trap!" she exclaimed, eyes searching frantically for him in the dark.

"I figured as much."

She found him, finally. Only so much light made it through the dingy windows, but she could just make out his face. "Then why did you show?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow.

He shrugged. "I couldn't leave you all here by yourself."

Kassandra scoffed. "You always have to be the knight in shining armor, don't you?"

She thought she saw him smile. "Apparently I do."

And then she witnessed his face contort. It was as if he was facing something unpleasant, a light headache, a wave of nausea. It was one thing to take down Kassandra; it was a whole other thing to tackle an original vampire.

"You can't take me, you're not strong enough," he mused to the witch standing behind him.

Almost instantly, the pain left Elijah's face. Kassandra watched intently, hungrily.

"Maybe not," the voice replied, almost casually. "But I can easily hurt her. And I do think that hurts you more than any physical pain would."

And, just like that, Kassandra's head felt like it was on fire.

She gasped out, trying to force out the pain, trying not to let it harm her. But it was easier said than done. She tried not to show it, knowing that's what the witch wanted. She wanted Elijah to know how much pain she was in. She wanted him to turn himself over to Esther. She tried, so hard, to keep the pain in, but it just burst out of her. She let out a cry and fell to the floor.

The pain wasn't like before. It was deeper, sharper, even worse than before, if that was possible. Kassandra looked up at Elijah, meeting his eyes. He looked miserable, like her pain was his pain. And she tried to smile, to ease his guilt, tried to reflect the pain. But the smile came out as a grimace and another gasp of pain fell from her lips.

"I wonder if I could turn her brain to mush," the witch mused.

"Stop," Elijah demanded, the only things giving away his composure were the hint of a frantic tone in his voice, and his eyes that were currently glued to Kassandra. "She's not involved in this. Kassandra is-"

"Innocent?" The witch let out a bark like laugh. "She's just as wrapped up in this as the rest of us. Kassandra chose her side; she chose you. And now she will have to pay for that choice."

"Sweet lord, you are the most self-righteous asshole I have ever met," Kassandra moaned.

They both ignored her. "What do you want from me? To give myself up? Turn myself into my mother? Sit idly by as she murders my siblings along with me? Is that what you want?" Elijah asked, voice as sharp as a sword.

"Would you? Just to save this one irrelevant vampire?" the witch asked, sound curious.

"Excuse you," Kassandra grunted.

Again, she was ignored. "You would turn your back on your family, all for her?"

And Elijah looked down at Kassandra with pained eyes. She shook her head slowly at him. No. She wasn't worth it. Just walk away. Just leave her here. She wasn't worth it.

"Oh, wait, how rude of me, making you choose between the two things you cherish most. Your family and her. You couldn't possibly choose, couldn't possibly make the other suffer. But, then again, what does that say? That you couldn't choose your family over a vampire you've known for a few months?" the witch was mocking him.

"I'll tell you, Elijah Mikaelson. It says you're a pathetic boy head over heels in lo-"

She was cut off when Elijah sunk his hand into the witch's chest and ripped her heart out.

And, finally, the pain was gone. It was sweet, and almost too good to be true. Her head felt brutally sore, but still, the pain was gone.

"Well, it's about time," Kassandra complained, slowly standing up. "You should have done that minutes ago."

"I know," Elijah admitted. "But I- I couldn't think straight. Not with- and what she was-" he cut himself off, and it was quite a sight, seeing Elijah Mikaelson speechless.

Kassandra just shrugged. "Well, better late than never. And now down to the real question- how are we getting me out of this fucking cage?"

_**~SYH~**_

In the end, it was easy for Kassandra to get out of her cell. The enchantment had broken when the witch had died.

Kassandra was rubbing her temples as she and Elijah walked out of the shady neighborhood and back towards actual life. "How are feeling?" Elijah asked her quietly, staring straight ahead at the sidewalk.

She shrugged. "I'm still a little tender, but I'll pull through."

She kept eying Elijah strangely, and he could feel it. "Is there something you want to ask, Kassandra?" he asked after a few silent moments.

Kassandra sighed and dropped her fingers from her head. "It's just- I'm confused, that's all."

He raised an eyebrow. "About what?"

"The witch was saying stuff, even before you got there," Kassandra asked slowly, carefully, as if she was afraid of his answer.

"Like what?"

He knew what she was saying, but he wanted to answer her as much as she wanted to ask him.

"Like- I don't know, okay? Like-" _like you were in love with me or something._

They had stopped walking, and Kassandra was staring up at Elijah, eyebrows furrowed. "Tell me what she meant, Elijah. About everything she said about us," she asked quietly. "Confessions are good for the soul," she joked weakly.

He closed his eyes. This wasn't how he was supposed to tell her. Not right after she had almost died _because of him. _She wasn't supposed to find out like this. Not like this.

But Elijah had no other option.

Opening his eyes, Elijah breathed in deeply, and met her questioning hazel gaze.

Then he uttered those six words that damned him.

"I'm in love with you, Kassandra."

_**~SYH~**_

**A/N: **wow, it's been way too long! I'm so sorry, guys! Thank you for your feedback and keep it coming!

~Abby :)


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